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Joshua Chapter
One
Joshua 1
Chapter Contents
The Lord appoints Joshua to succeed Moses. (1-4) God
promises to assist Joshua. (5-9) Preparation to pass over Jordan. (10-15) The
people promise to obey Joshua. (16-18)
Commentary on Joshua 1:1-4
(Read Joshua 1:1-4)
Joshua had attended upon Moses. He who was called to
honour, had been long used to business. Our Lord Jesus took upon him the form
of a servant. Joshua was trained up under command. Those are fittest to rule,
who have learned to obey. The removal of useful men should quicken survivors to
be the more diligent in doing good. Arise, go over Jordan. At this place and at
this time the banks were overflowed. Joshua had no bridge or boats, and yet he
must believe that God, having ordered the people over, would open a way.
Commentary on Joshua 1:5-9
(Read Joshua 1:5-9)
Joshua is to make the law of God his rule. He is charged
to meditate therein day and night, that he might understand it. Whatever
affairs of this world we have to mind, we must not neglect the one thing
needful. All his orders to the people, and his judgments, must be according to
the law of God. Joshua must himself be under command; no man's dignity or
dominion sets him above the law of God. He is to encourage himself with the
promise and presence of God. Let not the sense of thine own infirmities
dishearten thee; God is all-sufficient. I have commanded, called, and
commissioned thee to do it, and will be sure to bear thee out in it. When we
are in the way of duty, we have reason to be strong and very bold. Our Lord
Jesus, as Joshua here, was borne up under his sufferings by a regard to the
will of God, and the commandment from his Father.
Commentary on Joshua 1:10-15
(Read Joshua 1:10-15)
Joshua says to the people, Ye shall pass over Jordan, and
shall possess the land; because God had said so to him. We honour the truth of
God, when we stagger not at the promise of God. The two tribes and a half were
to go over Jordan with their brethren. When God, by his providence, has given
us rest, we ought to consider what service we may do to our brethren.
Commentary on Joshua 1:16-18
(Read Joshua 1:16-18)
The people of Israel engage to obey Joshua; All that thou
commandest us to do we will readily do, without murmuring or disputing, and
whithersoever thou sendest us we will go. The best we can ask of God for our
magistrates, is, that they may have the presence of God; that will make them
blessings to us, so that in seeking this for them, we consult our own interest.
May we be enabled to enlist under the banner of the Captain of our salvation,
to be obedient to his commands, and to fight the good fight of faith, with all
that trust in and love his name, against all who oppose his authority; for
whoever refuses to obey him must be destroyed.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Joshua》
Joshua 1
Verse 1
[1] Now
after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD
spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying,
After the death of Moses — Either immediately after it, or when the days of mourning for Moses were
expired. Joshua was appointed and declared Moses's successor in the government
before this time; and here he receives confirmation from God therein.
The servant of the Lord — This title is given to Moses here and Joshua 1:2, as also Deuteronomy 34:5, and is repeated not without
cause, to reflect honour upon him, to give authority to his laws and writings,
in publishing whereof he acted as God's servant, in his name: and that the
Israelites might not think of Moses above what was meet, remembering that he
was not the Lord himself, but only the Lord's servant; and therefore not to be
too pertinaciously followed in all his institutions when the Lord himself should
come and abolish part of the Mosaical dispensation; it being but reasonable
that he who was only a servant in God's house, should give place to him who was
the son, and heir, and Lord of it.
The Lord spake —
Either in a dream or vision, or by Urim, Numbers 27:21.
Moses's minister —
Who had waited upon Moses in his great employments, and thereby been privy to
his manner of government, and so prepared for it.
Verse 2
[2] Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou,
and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the
children of Israel.
Now therefore arise —
Let not the withering of the most useful hands be the weakening of ours. When
God has work to do, he will either find or make instruments fit to carry it on.
Moses the servant is dead; but God the master is not: he lives forever.
This Jordan —
Which is now near thee, which is the only obstacle in thy way to Canaan.
Which I give —
That is, am now about to give thee actual possession of it, as I formerly gave
a right to it by promise.
Verse 3
[3]
Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto
you, as I said unto Moses.
Every place —
That is, within the following bounds.
Verse 4
[4] From
the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates,
all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of
the sun, shall be your coast.
This Lebanon —
Emphatically, as being the most eminent mountain in Syria, and the northern
border of the land: or this which is within thy view.
Hittites — Of
the Canaanites, who elsewhere are all called Amorites; ( Genesis 15:16) and here Hittites, the Hittites
being the most considerable and formidable of all.
The greater —
The midland sea, great in itself, and especially compared with those lesser
collections of waters, which the Jews called seas. "But the Israelites
never possessed all this land." I answer: 1. That was from their own sloth
and cowardice, and disobedience to God, and breach of those conditions upon
which this promise was suspended: 2. Though their possessions extended not to
Euphrates, yet their dominion did, and all those lands were tributary to them
in David's and Solomon's time.
Verse 5
[5] There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy
life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor
forsake thee.
With Moses — To
assist him against all his enemies, and in all the difficulties of governing
this stiff-necked people, which Joshua might justly fear no less than the
Canaanites.
Forsake thee — I
will not leave thee destitute either of inward support, or of outward
assistance.
Verse 6
[6] Be
strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an
inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.
Be strong and of a good courage — Joshua, though a person of great courage and resolution, whereof he had
given sufficient proof, yet needs these exhortations, partly because his work
was great, and difficult, and long, and in a great measure new; partly because
he had a very mean opinion of himself, especially if compared with Moses; and
remembering how perverse and ungovernable that people were, even under Moses,
he might very well suspect the burden of ruling them would be too heavy for his
shoulders.
Verse 7
[7] Only
be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to
all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the
right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.
Commanded thee —
Remember, that though thou art the commander of my people, yet thou art my
subject, and obliged to observe all my commands.
To the right hand or to the left — That is, in any kind, or upon any pretence; which plainly shews, that
God's assistance promised to him and the Israelites, was conditional, and might
justly be withdrawn upon their breach of the conditions.
Whithersoever thou goest — That is, whatsoever thou doest. Mens actions are often compared to ways,
or steps by which they come to the end they aim at.
Verse 8
[8] This
book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate
therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is
written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou
shalt have good success.
Out of thy mouth —
That is, thou shalt constantly read it, and upon occasion discourse of it, and
the sentence which shall come out of thy mouth, shall in all things be given
according to this rule.
Day and night —
That is, diligently study, and upon all occasions consider what is God's will
and thy duty. The greatness of thy place and employments shall not hinder thee
from this work, because this is the only rule of all thy private actions, and
publick administrations.
Verse 9
[9] Have
not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither
be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
I commanded thee — I
whom thou art obliged to obey: I who can carry thee through every thing I put
thee upon: I of whose faithfulness and almighty power thou hast had large
experience?
Verse 10
[10] Then
Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying,
The officers of the people — These who commanded under Joshua, in their respective tribes and
families, attended him for orders, which they were to transmit to the people.
Verse 11
[11] Pass
through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals; for
within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land,
which the LORD your God giveth you to possess it.
Prepare you victuals — For although Manna was given them to supply their want of ordinary
provisions in the wilderness; yet they were allowed, when they had opportunity,
to purchase other provisions, and did so, Deuteronomy 2:6,28. And now having been some
time in the land of the Amorites, and together with Manna used themselves to
other food, which that country plentifully supplied them with; they are warned
to furnish themselves therewith for their approaching march.
Three days —
These words, though placed here, seem not to have been delivered by Joshua
'till after the return of the spies; such transpositions being frequent in
scripture. And hence it comes, that these three days mentioned here below,
after the history of the spies, are again repeated Joshua 3:2.
Verse 13
[13]
Remember the word which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying,
The LORD your God hath given you rest, and hath given you this land.
Commanded you —
His charge to you, and your promise to him.
Rest —
That is, a place of rest, as that word signifies.
Verse 14
[14] Your
wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall remain in the land which Moses
gave you on this side Jordan; but ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all
the mighty men of valour, and help them;
Before their brethren — In the front of all of them; which was but reasonable; because they had
the advantage of their brethren, having actually received their portion, which
their brethren had only in hope, because they were freed from those impediments
which the rest were exposed to, their wives, and children, and estates being
safely lodged; and to prevent their withdrawing themselves from the present
service, which they otherwise would have had temptation to do, because of the
nearness of their habitations.
Armed —
For by this time they were well furnished with arms, which they had either from
the Egyptians, Amalekites, or Amorites, from whom they had taken them; or by
purchase from those people by whose borders they passed.
Men of valour —
All such were obliged to go over if occasion required it, but Joshua took only
some of them, because they were sufficient for his purpose, and because some
were fit to be left, both to secure their own wives, children, and possessions,
and to prevent their enemies on that side from giving them disturbance in their
enterprise upon Canaan.
Verse 16
[16] And
they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou commandest us we will do, and
whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go.
And they answered —
Not the two tribes and an half only, but the officers of all the people, in
their name, concurring with the divine appointment, by which Joshua was set
over them. Thus must we swear allegiance to our Lord Jesus, as the captain of
our salvation.
Verse 17
[17]
According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto
thee: only the LORD thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses.
Unto thee —
The same obedience which we owed, to Moses, we promise unto thee.
With Moses —
This is not a limitation of their obedience, as if they would not obey him any
longer than he was prosperous, but an additional prayer for him. As we have
hereby promised thee our obedience, so our prayer shall be, that God would
bless and prosper thee, as he did Moses.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Joshua》
01 Chapter 1
Verses 1-9
NOW after the death of Moses . . . the Lord spake
unto Joshua.
The death of the old lawgiver
I. The death of
Moses was ushered in by no decay.
In this respect it was a striking exception to the rule. His
mental vigour wan unimpaired when he passed away. We have evidence of this in
that wonderful book of Deuteronomy, which Jesus loved to ponder and to quote.
Witness also the grand swan-song into which he bursts before its close, pouring
forth the sum and substance of all his warnings and exhortations in a flood of
molten emotion. Witness the beatitudes that follow, wherein the seer pierces
with prophetic eye the dark future and perceives the final consummation, when
Jehovah shall remove all iniquity from Israel and write His law upon their
hearts. Surely such exercises as these betoken a mind in a state of the highest
vigour and activity. And as it was with the mind so was it with the body. Moses
had no look of a dying man as he left the camp and climbed to Nebo’s brow; no
painful and protracted illness, no decrepit old age. What a blessed exodus was
this; more a translation than a death. An active, useful, holy life; a speedy
death--could there be a greater blessing if we have to die?
II. The death of
Moses was embittered by no regret. Moses was not dragged up that hill unwillingly,
like a malefactor to his doom. There was no indulgence in rebellious sentiment
and anxiety; no nervous and fearful activity in winding up the affairs of life;
but contrariwise, there was profound, calm, and courageous submission to the
Divine will. In good time let us honestly face all the possible sorrow and
disappointment, and learn, like him, to overcome through faith, obedience, and
humility.
III. His death was
darkened by no dismay. Of all the multitude in Israel that loved him, not one
was with him. Alone, alone, alone, he has passed into the presence of his
Maker. Yes, and we too, whatever the circumstances of our end, however tender
and unsleeping the ministry of loving hearts and gentle hands that soothes our
dying moments, alone must enter death’s dark door and be ushered into the
presence of our God. Alone, yet not unfriended, if we know Jesus who is there;
alone, yet undismayed, if like Moses we trust in Him, for He has said, “I will be with
thee.”
IV. The death of
Moses was brightened by great consolation. (A. B. Mackay.)
Death enters into God’s plans
Joshua must succeed Moses and be God’s servant as he was. He must
aim at this as the one distinction of his life; he must seek in every action to
know what God would have him to do. Happy man if he can carry out this ideal of
life! No conflicting interests or passions will distract his soul. The power
that nerves his arm will not be more remarkable than the peace that dwells in
his soul. He will show to all future generations the power of a “lost will,”
not the suppression of all desire, according to the Buddhist’s idea of bliss,
but all lawful natural desires in happy and harmonious action, because subject
to the wise, holy, and loving guidance of the will of God. Thus we see among
the other paradoxes of His government how God uses death to promote life. The
death of the eminent, the aged, the men of brilliant gifts makes way for
others, and stimulates their activity and growth. When the champion of the
forest falls the younger trees around it are brought more into contact with the
sunshine and fresh air, and push up into taller and more fully developed forms.
In many ways death enters into God’s plans. Not only does it make way for the
younger men, but it has a solemnizing and quickening effect on all who are not
hardened and dulled by the wear and tear of life. What a memorable event in the
spiritual history of families is the first sudden affliction, the first breach
in the circle of loving hearts! First, the new experience of intense tender longing,
baffled by the inexorable conditions of death; then the vivid vision of
eternity, the reality of the unseen flashing on them with living and awful
power, and giving an immeasurable importance to the question of salvation; then
the drawing
closer to one another, the forswearing of all animosities and jealousies, the
cordial desire for unbroken peace and constant co-operation; and if it be the
father or the mother that has been taken, the ambition to be useful--to be a
help, not a burden, to the surviving parent, and to do what little they can of
what used to be their father’s or their mother’s work. Death becomes actually a
quickener of the vital energies; instead of a withering influence, it drops
like the gentle dew, and becomes the minister of life. (W. G. Blaikie, D. D.)
Death makes room for others
And some great names must be removed to make way for lesser names
that have growing sap in them and real capability of beneficent expansion. Some
great trees must be cut down to make room for lesser trees that mean to be
great ones in their time. We owe much to the cutting-down power of death, the clearing power of the
cruel scythe or axe. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Onward, through, and over
Moses was dead. His work was done. It was rounded off so far as he
was concerned, and so he went to his reward. There is a lesson of no small
importance to you and me. Our business is to do the duty that lies next us.
That duty may only seem to be a fragment of what we desire to accomplish, but
it is all we are answerable for, and to do our portion well is to stand clear
with conscience and with God. In the construction of a door, one man makes the
panels, another makes the frame, another fits it together, and a fourth hangs
it by its hinges. The panel maker has a very imperfect portion of the work to
show as the result of his toil, but he has done his part and fulfilled his
mission whether the door ever swings in its place or no. Your business and mine
is to fulfil the injunction, whether in our daily toil, in the training of our
children, in the work of the Church or whatever other duty may fall to
us--“Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” Our hearts may
find to do a good deal more; if our hand cannot find the opportunity to work
out the heart’s desire, we are accepted for what we have done and what we would
do and cannot; and whatever and how-much soever remains undone, we shall
ascend, like Moses, to our own Mount Nebo and die in a flood of rosy light with
Canaan before our eyes and God’s “Well done” sounding in our ears. The man who
carries the hod of mortar up the ladder does not lay a single brick, but in his
measure his service is essential and as worthy as the architect that planned
the building, or the mason that rears its walls. From this point of view,
servant is a grander name than seraph or archangel, for what would these be if
they did not serve or stand and wait? Their wings would droop and their
celestial glory would be quenched in night. “Moses’ minister.” That is what
Joshua is called. It is another word for servant. He ministered to, that is, he
served Moses; and herein lies another lesson, for he was thereby a servant also
of the Lord. He who well serves the Lord’s servant serves that servant’s
Master, and He says, “Ye did it unto Me.” Oh for a full and perfect measure of
this rich interchange, this interlinking of lives and sympathies, servants of
each other, vying in a holy rivalry as to who shall be the lowliest, readiest,
willingest servant of the servants of the Lord! “Spake to Joshua.” Joshua was
born when Moses was an exile and a stranger hidden for his life among the wilds
of Midian. There’s another lesson of great value in this. It did not seem
likely then, did it? that Moses should ever be a leader of men, the emancipator
of a nation. Providence sees and plans for a long time ahead of our to-day, and
holds in reserve agents and forces that we cannot see; and because we cannot
see them we doubt and question and in the face of the unlikely we say, “It
cannot be.” That solitary pale-faced and half starved monk in a German cell;
how is he to shake all Europe and make the Pope tremble on his throne? There is
nothing more unlikely: and yet Frederic, Prince of Saxony, is being placed by
God upon his throne to be a ready and brave helper when the time came; and
before Luther left his cell, Providence had sprung upon the world the printing
press, which was to be Luther’s deadliest artillery. God’s plans are laid; His
movements are in process, and for the fulfilment of every purpose that He cherisheth
there shall come the hour and the man. Now mark, that this is true in our own individual history
and experience. Every humble and trustful disciple of the Lord Jesus is the
ward of Divine Providence. Listen: “The God of my mercy shall prevent me”; that
is, shall go before me, You look forward with an anxious eye and heart to some
possible contingency, and say, “It is sure to happen.” Time passes, and perhaps
it does happen; but you find that meanwhile God hath stationed at that point
something or somebody that acts as a buffer to the blow, and although your
Moses may fail you at your need, some Joshua comes in to fill the gap and meet
the need of the moment to the full. “Therefore arise.” There is an old saying
that there is much virtue in an “if”; it appears to me that there is much
virtue in this word “therefore.” Moses is dead, therefore arise. Remembering
who Moses was and how entirely Moses was depended on, it would seem more
natural to say, “Therefore lie still; this is a blow from which you cannot
recover.” When he was alive you often asked him to take you back to Egypt for
safety’s sake. Now that he is dead, you had better take yourselves back, for if
you are not drowned in an attempt to pass the river, the Canaanites will dig
your graves on the other side. Now is not that the kind of “therefore” with
which the Church of God is sadly familiar, and with which those who have
relationship with faint-hearted people have a saddening acquaintance? A stay
and pillar of the Church dies or removes, “therefore nothing can be done; what
can we do without him?” Here is a man who starts in business. Things do not
advance as he wishes. He therefore must shut up his shop, be content to
collapse. Surely that logic will be laughed at. Well, do not let us hear it in the
Church; do not let us say it in presence of our obstacles. If the axe is blunt,
grip it with both hands and put more strength into the blow. No fretting, no
retreating, no conferring with doubts and fears. Is Moses dead? Therefore
arise! Cross hands over the dead hero’s coffin, and vow to Heaven to take his
name as a new watchword, and to cross the Jordan while the earth is still fresh
upon his grave. “Go over this Jordan.” In measuring the chances of doing a
thing you must take into account who orders it. It was Napoleon who said to the
French army, “Go over the Alps.” It would not have been done under anybody
else’s guidance. It was God that said to Joshua, “Go over this Jordan.” Then
though it be as deep as the sea, though it swirl like a whirlpool, though it
rush like Niagara, he will go to yonder side. There is just one other lesson
that I would fain gather from these suggestive words--“The land which I do give
them.” First, God had said to them while in Egypt, “The land which I will give
them.” Oh! what weary years of waiting followed! At last they had given it up.
They said, “Where is the promise of His coming?” Then the lash of the
taskmaster fell and silenced them. Now they are in sight of it, and He says,
“The land which I do give them.” The promise is in the very act of being
fulfilled. By and by the waters parted and let them through, and, as they stand
on the plains of Sharon, or lie at rest under the shadow of the hills of
Lebanon, God says, “The land which I have given them!’ Mark the tenses, how
they change: “I will give, I do give, I have given.” Men and brethren, that is
God’s order. He is faithful that promised. (J. J. Wray.)
Dignity of God’s service
The first graveyard which meets the eye in the Moravian cemetery
of Herrnhut bears the inscription, “Christian David, the servant of the Lord.”
This was in life the high distinction of the humble and apostolic colleague of
Count Zinzendorf, and was even recognised by the Imperial Council of Russia
when the Moravian carpenter had occasion to appear before it.
Moses and Joshua
Moses’ work ended at Jordan--Joshua’s began at Jordan. History is
vested in the life of its representative men, and has in it no gaps. The mantle
of Elijah falls on Elisha, and the next generation was provided for before Moses
went up into Nebo. Moses wanted to go over Jordan. It seemed to him, most
likely, that he died before his time. And yet his work, as we can see it now,
was a completed and a nicely-rounded one. His commission was to bring the
Hebrews to the Jordan; Joshua’s commission was to bring them over the Jordan
and establish them in Canaan. We are to learn from such representative
instances that when a man is interested in nothing but to do the work that God
sets him, he will never die till the work is done thoroughly and successfully.
Among the little servants of God there are no fallen buds, and among the adult
servants of God no broken columns. (C. H. Parkhurst, D. D.)
The new leader
It has been said, “Great men have no successors.” But if we mean
by successor one who takes up the work where his predecessor has left it, and
develops it according to the Divine ideal, then all men, great and small alike,
have successors. As Pascal puts it, “You cannot produce the great man before
his time, and you cannot make him die before his time; you cannot displace nor
advance him, nor put him back; you cannot continue his existence, and replace
him, for he existed only because he had his work to do; he exists no longer,
because there is no longer anything for him to do; and to continue him is to
continue a useless part.” A worthy successor to the great leader had been
found. The Divine choice, a choice which had been revealed to Moses before his
death, and which greatly gladdened his heart, had fallen upon Joshua. There
were reasons for this choice of Joshua which we do well to consider; for if his
preparation for this high place was not so romantic or so miraculous as that of
Moses, it was none the less effective and Divine. His training was, like ours,
of a more homely pattern.
I. It can scarcely
be doubted that Joshua’s lineage had something to do with God’s choice. His
parents were slaves, and though the bloody edict enacted in Moses’ infant days
had long since been repealed, these serfs had felt to the full the bitterness
of bondage. But notwithstanding all, they had not lost faith and hope in God;
and we get a glimpse into their souls’ state through the significant name they
gave their firstborn. They called him “Hoshea,” that is “Salvation.” Surely
their infant’s name is the very echo of their father Jacob’s dying words to
Dan, “I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord.” We can well believe that Joshua
was brought up in an atmosphere of hope. It is more than likely, from what we
know of the habits of the ancient Egyptians, that in a corner of his father’s
lowly dwelling stood an object which often excited his childish wonder and
curiosity. It was a mummy case, painted all over with strange devices and
curious figures, which with its somewhat faded richness presented a strange contrast
to the mean furniture of the dwelling. “Within it,” we can easily imagine his
mother telling him, “are preserved the bones of Joseph.” “But why do you keep
Joseph’s bones?” “Because when he lay dying he gave commandment concerning
them,” &c. The child would listen and ponder, and look with new solemnity
on that sacred trust; then he might ask, “Mother, was that true which Joseph
said when he was dying?” “Yes, my boy.” “Then why do we not go at once--
“‘Mother,
oh where is that blissful shore,
Shall
we not seek it and weep no more’?”
“We
must wait God’s time. We are His people, and He knows what is best.” “Will it
be long till that day comes?” “I cannot tell, but I do not think it will be
very long, for God said to our great father Abraham that we would go back to it
in the fourth generation, and the time must be near.” Thus the influences that
surrounded Joshua in his youth must have moulded his character and prepared him
for the place he took, first as Moses’ lieutenant, then as leader of Israel; and
the assurance of the truth of Joseph’s dying words must have mollified the
bitterness of that cruel bondage. Every visitation of judgment would be a
confirmation of his faith, and every trial a purifying furnace to remove his
dross. He would hear from his father and grandfather, who were elders of the
important tribe of Ephraim, the precise particulars of the Divine commission,
and while they, with the other elders, were under Moses and Aaron attending to
the more difficult and important matters in connection with the proposed
Exodus, it is very likely that, following his natural bent of mind, he would be
actively employed in attempting to organise the people and prepare them for a
simultaneous movement. Thus while this champion first steps into the arena when
Israel confronts Amalek, we may well suppose that he had done yeoman’s service
before, and his fitness and aptness for his life’s work must have depended in
great measure on home surroundings.
II. Joshua’s
character had also to do with this choice. Its constituent elements were noble
and simple, easily understood and readily appreciated. He was every inch a
soldier, brave and manly, simple in habit, straightforward in speech,
cool-headed, warm-hearted, energetic, swift in thought and action. He was firm
as a rock, true as steel. Nothing could exceed his fidelity. How true was he,
above all, to his God! So was he with his master. He never failed Moses. At all
times he was jealous for his honour, and would tolerate nothing derogatory to
his dignity and authority. He was even true to his enemies. He kept his word
and carried out his engagements, in the spirit as well as the letter, though
trapped by guile into the making of them. His courage also was of the loftiest
kind. It could face not only enemies, but, harder far, misguided friends. Like
all noble natures, Joshua was also unselfish, humble, and modest. He had
learned to obey, and was therefore fit to command. His patience and hopefulness were also
very marked, and much needed in the leader of such a people as Israel. He was
able to endure the fatigues of the march as well as the rush of battle, not
fainting under the hardships of the weary campaign, but ever on the alert to
push every advantage to its utmost limit, and always, by his cheerful bearing and
cheery words, keeping up the hearts of the people. He was a leader alert,
circumspect, prudent, leaving nothing to chance or the chapter of happy
accidents, but doing everything that foresight could suggest for the attainment
of the end in view.
III. Joshua’s
training had also to do with this choice. When he was put at the head of the
people he was no novice. Joshua was the oldest man in the camp with the single
exception of Caleb; therefore he was a man of experience and ripened wisdom. We
have already spoken about that home school, in which his parents were the
teachers. This was the granitic foundation of all his subsequent greatness. He
was also taught in the grand and stirring school of the Exodus. Here God
Himself was Joshua’s teacher. Great national events have a high educational
value. The stimulus of stirring times is deep, formative, and all pervasive.
Still another school furnished Joshua with valuable instruction, and that was
the camp of Israel. If by the wonders of the Exodus he was taught to know God,
by the conduct of Israel he would learn to know man. Day by day he would be
learning how to command and lead. Find without doubt the crowning lessons in
this long preparatory course would be imparted in the tent of Moses. Moses’
tent was Joshua’s college. And the very fact that he had been associated so
long with Moses as his lieutenant would not only prepare himself but also the
minds of the people for this change.
IV. This choice of
Joshua had also reference to the character of the work that had to be done. The
great work now before Israel is to conquer and divide the land. This was a kind
of work most congenial to Joshua, and for which he had received special
preparation. He is the right man for the present work, as Moses was the right
man for the past.
V. Also, this
significant choice had reference to the great plan of god in the economy of
redemption. “Moses My servant is dead.” Thus said Jehovah. Therefore Moses
brought no one into the inheritance. Israel lost sight of him for ever, before
they put down a foot in Canaan. If they are to pass over that Jordan, and
possess the land, it cannot be under Moses. This act of leadership is
deliberately taken out of his hands by God Himself. Surely the lesson is plain
to all who know the essence of the gospel. “By the deeds of the law shall no
flesh be justified in His sight.” The law brings no one into God’s heritage.
But what Moses could not do Joshua was raised up to accomplish. If we would
enter into God’s inheritance we must turn from Moses and look to Joshua. Who
was he? A man in all points made like his brethren; not nurtured in Pharaoh’s
palace like Moses, but born with them in Goshen, sharing their burdens,
labouring side by side with them, afflicted in all their afflictions, bearing
their griefs and carrying their sorrows. Who cannot see here a picture of God’s
own Son, “made of a woman, made under the law”? Turn from the law to the
gospel. What is your hope of glory, Moses or Jesus? Yet we must never dream
that Moses and Joshua are antagonistic. There is no quarrel in God’s economies.
Just as Moses and Joshua wrought together for the same great end, so is it with
the law and the gospel. (A. B. Mackay.)
Whom do I succeed?
Every age succeeds an age marked by greatness peculiarly its own.
We are born now into a grand civilisation; it admits of no indolence, or
reluctance as to work, and it cannot be satisfied by what is petty,
perfunctory, and inexpensive as to the strength which is laid out upon it.
History brings its responsibilities. To be born immediately after such and such
leaders have played their part in the world’s theatre is itself to have a cross
of no mean weight laid upon the shoulder. We may close our eyes and think
nothing about these things, but we do not thereby make them the less realities,
nor do we thereby destroy the standard of judgment which they force upon us and
by which our life will be tested. Every man should say, “Whom do I succeed?
Whose are these footprints near the place whereon I stand? Has a giant been
here--a great leader, a noble sufferer, a patient student, a father great in
love, a mother greater still?--then my responsibility begins with their
greatness and goodness; what I have to do,” the soliloquist should say, “is to
go on: where they have been great, I must try to be greater still--or if not
along their line,
along some line of my own--so that the ages may not stagger backwards, but with
steadiness and majesty of strength advance from one degree to another as the light increases to the
perfect day.” (J. Parker, D. D.)
Promotion
When a merchant has a vacancy in his establishment, he promotes to
it that one of his servants who
in the post which he has been occupying has displayed the greatest measure of fidelity and
perseverance; and, when a youth applies for a situation, the success of his application
will depend on the report which his former employer gives regarding him or on
the record which he has written for himself in school. But it is not otherwise
in the providence of God. Those who fill best the spheres in which they have
been placed are, in general, those who are in the long run advanced to higher
positions; while they who despise the small things of their present duties are
left to sink into still deeper obscurity. (Christian World Pulpit.)
Death and its lessons
The man to whom the charge is addressed is the inferior, in
every way, of his master. A good man, a brave soldier, a disinterested head of
the State--this he is. But the zest and the sparkle has gone out of the history
with Moses; the passage of the river is a feeble repetition of the passage of
the sea; and the scene to which it admits Israel is one, for the most part, of
comparatively “common day”--alternations of fighting and resting, victories
imperfectly followed up, acquiescences, languid and faithless, in a virtual
partition of Canaan between Israel and Israel’s foe. It is the more lifelike as
a picture of the fortunes of our race. It is thus that earth’s history is
written, it is thus that the stream of time flows on. The Moses is followed by
the Joshua, the morning of promise by the noonday of disappointment, both alike
pointing onward, onward still, to a sunset long delayed, and an evening time
which shall at last be light. The hero of strategy or prowess--the genius of
discovery or imagination--the prophet of earth or heaven--lives not to reap,
leaves the harvest to another, looks abroad from his Pisgah upon worlds
unconquered, feels at last that he rather stops the onward march of a
generation whose turn is come. It is well. Man must be little if he would be
great--must see himself but an atom in the universe of life if he would do
anything that is real in the work which is all God’s. And he has his reward.
The man that “knows the blessedness of being little” is disembarrassed of the
self-consciousness which is battling to be great. That energy is all free for
action which loses no time in contemplating itself. That “ability” grows apace
in vigour which remembers that it is of “God’s giving.” It was so with Moses.
His one prayer was, “Let the God of the spirits of all flesh set a man over His
congregation.” Upon him, when he was found, he laid his hand, presented him
instantly to the congregation as the man of the future, and “put some of his
own honour at once upon him, that the congregation might understand and be
obedient.” He has his reward. This it is which eases life of its carefulness.
This it is which makes greatness endurable as well as possible--the thought
that God has no need of it, can raise up even from the stones a workman and a patriot,
metes not with man’s measure and reckons not by man’s years. “I am the Lord, I
change not”; therefore ye sons of men can both quietly serve and peacefully
fall on sleep. “Moses My servant is dead.” Yes, “My servant,” though he once
“spake unadvisedly”; yes, “My servant,” though he was refused his heart’s
prayer; yes, “My servant,” though he might not go over Jordan. “Moses My
servant is dead”: even when we are judged, we are but chastened; yea, if we not
only suffer for our sins, but even sleep! “Now therefore arise, go over this
Jordan.” The work of God is not ended. Rather are we always on the brink of a
river that must be crossed, and in sight of a land that has to be conquered.
Who can look around him on the face of this earth, and so much as dream that
Jordan is crossed, that Canaan is occupied? Who could live this life if he did
not feel and know that effort, that progress, is its law? What we look forth
upon, from the spot which is “this present,” is a work, and it is a warfare.
With our guides or without them, it is quite evident that there rolls a deep
and a rapid river between us and rest, between us and a land of promise, which
is that new heaven and earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. We cannot pretend
to say that intelligence such as we possess, that civilisation such as we have
attained, that religion such as a Christendom realises, is satisfactory, is
successful, is victorious, whether in the aspect of happiness or in the aspect
of good. Everything is in conflict, everything is in struggle, everything is
(at best) in a condition of movement and in a condition of hope. The plain of
Moab is our world--a cold, broad stream divides us from any thing that we can
call rest, from anything that we can call possession. “My servant is dead, now
therefore arise, and go over.” There is a vacancy, which you must fill. That is
one lesson of death. It is a summons to the living. God has lost a
workman--will you take his place? Terrible would it be for this nation if
either growing luxury or spreading vice should diminish the supply of strong
men for the carrying on of the work of God in England. It is not the decay of
genius which is formidable--it is the decay of strength. Joshua was (in many
senses) the inferior
of Moses, but that inferiority was no loss, on the whole, to his country; he
had his work, as Moses had his--and, like Moses, he did it. “My servant is
dead; therefore arise and go over,” If there is a call in death, there is also
an encouragement. See, it says to us, what life is. See the blessedness of
God’s service. Hear Him say of the departed, “My servant” still. The man who
has served God in his generation shall never die. He is in the hands of God,
though it be out of the sight of the living. “My servant is dead; arise
therefore, and go over,” whither he, we trust, is gone. In the words of the
historic parable of Ascension Day, “Take ye up the mantle that fell from him,
and with it smite the waters--that, like him, and after him, you in your turn
may pass over dryshod.” (Dean Vaughan.)
Arise, go over this
Jordan.
The campaign commenced
I. What the Lord
spake unto joshua; or, the issue of the order. Never was a mightier task
assigned to any man than to Joshua; and yet never did any man start forth
better equipped than he, for observe, the Lord gives him--
II. What Joshua
commanded the people; or, his proclamation of the lord’s order.
1. His obedience is prompt and unquestioning. No “wherewith” is
interposed; no sign asked. He does not pause or procrastinate, but “then”
(verse 10) and there, like a man of activity, he issues the order to the tribes
through their officers, bidding the people at once prepare them victuals for
the journey; yea, strong in faith, and full of the Holy Ghost, he announces
that “within three days” they are to cross the Jordan.
2. As Joshua’s obedience was prompt, so was it thorough. He will not
do God’s work by halves, nor go to war without all the army.
III. What the people
answered Joshua; or, their acceptance of the lord’s order. “Only be strong, and
of good courage”! They indicate that Joshua had rehearsed in their ears the
charge that God had given him. The key to their import is found in the clause,
“thou and all this people” (verse 2). They recognise their union with their
captain. Thus their exhortation may be regarded as an echo, and an acceptance
of the call to effort and endurance.
Lessons:
1. There is great encouragement here for all who, like Joshua, are
called to occupy posts of authority, responsibility, or difficulty.
2. The same consolation belongs to every Christian. We all have a
warfare to accomplish, a Jordan to pass over, an inheritance to seek. The call
of God, the promises of God, and the presence of God are our warrant.
3. A deeper lesson remains, respecting the office of Jesus. He is
the Captain of the Lord’s host. (G. W. Butler, M. A.)
Joshua successor, to Moses
1. Every man who is doing anything worth working at is some one’s
successor, and in time must be succeeded by some one. Alas for the man who
succeeds only to a place to occupy, and not to a work to do! Joshua was
successor to a grand man in wonderful work.
2. Every man’s work is a continuation. “The workmen die, but the
work goes on.”
3. Every man’s work is his own. It differs from that of him who went
before, and of him who will come after. Moses had been trained in Pharaoh’s
court and among Jethro’s flock; Joshua in the brickyards of Egypt and in the
army of Israel. Each had been fitted for the work he was to do. And every man’s
work is shaped by that of his predecessor.
I. God gives men definite
work to do. It is important that you know your vocation. God has called you to
His likeness and His service; to be as Christ was in the world, with His mind
in you and His work upon your hands; to manifest the Father to men, and to lead
men to the Father. It is your definite work, your one great aim as Christians,
as God’s children, whether you accept it or not--your only worthy aim.
II. A definite work
demands an equally definite law. If the work be given, the law for its
prosecution must be given also from the same source. God has been good to His
people in perpetuating for them the written Word, enlarged and modified for
their changing conditions. The object-lessons, which were needed in the
childhood of the race, gave way to the precepts which might better guide its
youth; and these
in turn yielded to the statement of the great principles of all right feeling
and conduct, with the declaration of which the canon is closed, and which need
no addition, because they are adaptable to every variety of condition and
culture.
III. A divine
helper. When the Lord gives a man a work to do which is beyond his power, He
always promises the needed aid. “Go over this Jordan, and divide this land
among My people,” says the Lord; but God says also, “As I was with Moses, so I
will be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” But, beside the
promise of a Divine Helper, Joshua had both the vision of His person and the
experience of His aid. We, too, may listen, and hear the promise coupled with
the command. We also may look up and see, not in vision, but in the mirror of
His Word, the Captain of our salvation, the Lord of war and righteousness,
armed for our defence, at hand for our deliverance. No life is worth the living
unless it sets before itself a work worthy to be done. No life tan do a worthy
work save as it recognises the Divine law, and avails itself of the Divine
Helper. With these three outward conditions of his success, there needed one
quality on Joshua’s part to make it sure, and that was--
IV. A brave heart.
But the courage came from his confidence in the Divine mission, the Divine law,
and the Divine Helper. So, too, may it be for us all. If we know that the Lord
our God is with us, we shall not be afraid nor dismayed; but we too shall be
prospered, and shall have good success. (Sermons by the Monday Club.)
The commission of Joshua
I. The divine
commission is given to men who are peculiarly fitted for the work. In one
respect all men are weak; but in their weakness they must not be weaklings. God
can use all men; but He never calls one to a burden that is beyond his ability
to carry. Man must become worthy or willing before God will commission him to
any work. God cannot make much of any man who does not make much of himself. We
too often speak as if God gives man his character; it is all wrong. By Divine
help every man makes himself and develops his own powers, for the exercise or
misuse of which he alone is responsible. It is every man’s privilege to be
worthy of receiving the Divine call.
II. The source of
all strength is God.
1. God wants strong men. There is no strength without symmetry.
Samson’s strength was counterbalanced by his moral weakness. Benedict Arnold
ranked among the nation’s heroes at Ticonderoga, but the lurking perfidy of his
heart betrayed the traitor at last. The intellectual brilliancy of an Aaron
Burr could not raise him to any greatness so long as his moral nature was
corrupt. Washington was as great a power in national affairs on account of his
moral nature as from his civic deeds; so of Lincoln and Grant.
2. All strength springs from within. You cannot make any man
stronger than he is. Place him in favouring circumstances, but these cannot
control him, except as they mark his weakness. You may bolster men, but this
gives no manhood; may extol them above their deserts, but all the puffs of
adulation make them no stronger. The whole world cannot make any man to be
worth more than he is in himself. This strength is possible to all. Take away
bodily fear, or timidity as to others’ opinions, and every man can be strong.
There is no sight more sublime than man enduring the flames that scorch him in
the path of duty; mightier than the mighty rebukes of millions as he walks
alone; undismayed, as Christlike he stands with some repentant child of sin,
for Christ’s sake. The “image of God” can surpass in sublimity and divinity all
else the world has ever seen, because the measure of the obstacles he overcomes
marks the heroism of his own soul.
3. God promises help in thus gaining strength. What power in the
words: “As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee,” &c. Stronger yet the
promise: “The Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” There is no
strength without God. Power comes only when the watchward is “Immanuel.” “I can
do all things,” &c. There is no truly great man who is ungodly. It takes a
great hope to give great courage.
III. They whose
strength is in God are invincible. There is no such bulwark as the truth; no
such power as comes from the consciousness of doing right. There is no such
strength as the man possesses whose conscience is clear. One such man can chase
a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight. It is not necessary for men
with truth on their side to take up the world’s methods in their plans and plottings.
Men in whom God dwells are as truly unharmed by evil as they are by the storms
that can do no more than wet their cheeks. The world cannot crush God’s
children; it can crown with thorns, but it cannot, with all its might, cast off
from memory the crown of the just. It can build bonfires, make dungeons, and
sharpen sabres, but it cannot weaken the joys that count all these only as
symbols of their swift entrance upon a better life.
IV. The bounds of
all successful service are in the written word. So far as history has a voice,
God has never left Himself without a witness of His truth. Sinai’s law was but
the expression of principles long before partially known. Twice in the record
of this commission of Joshua the condition of prosperity is given as obedience
“to all the law” made known through Moses: “Turn not from it to the right hand
or to the left,” &c. It was this same law that should never depart out of
his mouth; day and night he should meditate upon its precepts, and watch
closely “to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt
make thy way prosperous,” &c. The truth of this grand principle has been
stamped upon the world wherever civilisation has gained a hold. (David O.
Mears.)
Taking possession of our inheritance
I. Take a survey
of the inheritance.
1. I would say of this inheritance which God has prepared for
His saints, and has given to them by a covenant of salt, that it is exceeding
broad. All that we can think or desire is ours in the covenant of grace. There
are immeasurable breadths and lengths, but we confine ourselves to close
quarters. Truly “there is very much land yet to be possessed”! Some graces you
must have, or you are not saved; some sins must at once be driven out of your
life at the sword’s point, or you are not the Lord’s. As for the choicer
graces, you are foolish indeed if you think of doing without them; and as for
the less violent sins, you err greatly if you spare one of them.
2. This heritage is exceedingly desirable. When sin is driven out,
and we come to live in God’s own land, then we find precious treasure; we dig,
and we are enriched. We have all things in Christ; yea, in Him we have all that
our utmost want can require.
3. This heritage, upon which we are now looking down from the summit
of our faith, is full of variety. Here are Hermons of experience, Tabors of
communion, Jabboks of prevailing prayer, and Cheriths of Divine providence. The
revelation of God is a blessed country, full of all manner of delights. They
that live in Christ dwell in spiritual realms, which for light and joy are as
heaven below. Above all things, it is “Thy land, O Immanuel”!
II. Glance at the
title deeds of our inheritance. I would not mind exhibiting our title before
the whole bench of judges, for it has no flaw in it, and will stand in the
highest court.
1. First, notice its covenant character: “I have given it to you.”
You will find the full conveyance in Genesis 15:18-21. Each believer may say, “He hath in Christ
Jesus made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure; and
therefore do I possess all spiritual blessings, and shall possess them world
without end.”
2. Observe, next, that this deed of gift is notable for its graciousness.
How does it run? Which I do “sell” to them? Ah, no! It is no sale, but a free
gift.
3. Note well the righteousness of our title: “Which I do give to
them.” The Lord God has a right to give what He pleases, for “the earth is the
Lord’s, and the fulness thereof, the world, and they that dwell therein.” Of
His own has He given unto us. In the great sacrifice of His dear Son He has
satisfied all claims of justice, and He acts justly when He blesses largely
those for whom Jesus died.
4. Do not fail to see its sureness: “The gifts and calling of God
are without repentance.” “I do give,” saith He, and thus He stands to His act
and deed. Oh, children of God, what do you think of your title-deeds? You stand
possessed of your kingdom by the gift of Him who has a right to give what He
pleases. The kingdom is given you because it is your Father’s good pleasure to
give it to you. Not only was it His good pleasure, but it remains so. What
great simpletons we are if we do not take possession of the brave country which
is ceded to us!
III. Let us make a
move towards our possessions. There is your land, but Jordan rolls between.
1. The first thing to do in this matter is to go over this Jordan.
Come out from the world, and be separate. The land of gracious experience is
meant for you to dwell in, so that you may be recognised as the Lord’s peculiar
people, separated unto the Most High. Oh, for that decisive step by which, like
Abraham, you conic out from your father’s house that you may be a sojourner
with God in the land which His grace will show you!
2. Having decided for the Lord, you are next to take possession by
an act of simple faith. Every place in the grace country upon which the sole of
your foot shall tread is yours. You will remember that the Red Indians agreed
to sell to William Penn as much land as a man could walk round in a day; and I
do not wonder that at the end of the day they complained that the white brother
had made a big walk. I think I should have put my best leg foremost if whatever
I could put my foot upon would be mine; would not you? Why, then, do you not
hurry up in spiritual matters? Do you value earthly things more than spiritual?
Mark, then, that if you put your foot down upon a blessing, and say, “This is
mine,” it is yours. What a very simple operation is the claim of faith! (C.
H. Spurgeon.)
Every place that the sole
of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you.--
The commission for the conquest
I. It was divine.
It is important to bear this in mind, otherwise we shall misunderstand not only
the whole teaching of this book, but the whole history of Israel as a nation.
“Deus vult” is written on every page, however stained with blood. Joshua was no
bandit or freebooter, eager for plunder; no Alexander or Napoleon, consumed by the
lust of power and the greed of empire. He was simply a servant, carrying out
the commands of a superior. And in truth there was a Divine necessity for this
commission. If the Divine purposes are to be carried out, if He is to keep His
place as the Judge of all the earth, some such commission was a necessity. Is
there anything analogous to this in the spiritual sphere? There is. God does
not in these days call the Christian to any war such as that to which He called
Joshua; yet there is a holy war, a glorious crusade, in which He would have us
all warriors. Before every one of us He places a double battlefield. There is
an outer fight, and the field of battle is the whole world, according to the
gospel commission, “Go ye into all the world,” &c. There is also an inner
fight, and the field of battle is the heart, according to that holy exhortation
which urges us to bring every thought into subjection to the Lord Jesus.
III. It was clear in
its terms. No doubt could arise in the mind of Joshua as to what God desired
him to do. “Arise”! The wilderness journey is at an end; the time to take
possession has come. Arise from these weary disciplinary wanderings to high and
heroic achievements. Even so our commission as Christians for our twofold fight
is clear as day, and as emphatic as the Divine lips could make it. Therefore
the removal of every valiant soldier of the Cross should be a mighty stimulus
to those left behind. We best revere the memory of the good and great who have
passed away by giving all diligence to the work which was so dear to them.
III. It was
difficult to carry out. “Go over this Jordan.” Joshua is here put in as great
extremity as was Moses at the Red Sea. Aye, and the crossing of the Jordan is
only the first great difficulty among many. Often, in like manner, obedience to
the gospel commission implies the facing of difficulties which to the eye of
sense are insuperable. The fight of faith is never easy.
IV. It was terrible
in its consequences. When we think of its bearing on these Canaanites, we can
conceive nothing more appalling. These nations were like the grass of the
field, and Israel was God’s scythe to cut them down. What a contrast to all
this have we in the commission of the gospel and the present work of the Lord
Jesus. When on earth He said, “I came not to destroy men’s lives but to save
them,” and the work He has given His followers now to do is a work of
salvation. Surely, then, we should be all the more eager to carry it out.
V. It was also
righteous. In this case nothing was done in undue haste. The Divine patience
that had borne with these evil tenants for four hundred years was marvellous;
and they grew worse and worse all the time. The gracious pause of forty years,
after He had made bare His mighty arm before all flesh, by the wonders done in
Loan’s field, and proclaimed that the time had come when He was to give this
land to Israel, should have won submission. If now they resist His action, it
is at their peril. If the war in which Joshua was engaged was righteous, how
holy is that war by which righteousness and peace, joy and goodwill, are
multiplied on the earth. The man who consecrates all his faculties to the
downfall of evil, first within and then without, whose life is one long
struggle against spiritual wickedness, acts according to the principles of
eternal rectitude.
VI. It was
beneficial in its results. He who reads history cannot fail to see that impure
and enfeebled races and nations have been the prey of those who have been
comparatively pure and strong; and thus, by conquest, take it all in all,
civilisation has been advanced, and the state of the race as a whole
ameliorated. Better a bad limb be cut off than the whole body mortify. Such
national surgery may be terrible, but it is beneficial. In like manner, by unflinching
valour in the fight of faith, the children of God become the world’s best
benefactors. In conquering evil within and without, we not only do good to
ourselves but to the whole human race. “Ye are the salt of the earth.” Without
this preserving salt of Christlike souls how soon would the carcase become
corrupt and the eagles of judgment alight.
VII. It had also a
wide reference and a narrow application. It spoke of the country which
stretched “from the wilderness and this Lebanon.” Thus the inheritance of
Israel embraced a territory of great richness, beauty, variety, and
compactness. Yet while Joshua’s commission embraced the whole land, the land
become the possession of Israel only as it was subdued acre by acre. These
ancient warriors had not only to take the title-deeds, but also to enter into
possession. To do the first was easy; to do the second was hard. Even so is it
with the Christian. He has indeed a goodly heritage--a whole heaven of
spiritual blessedness. “All things are yours.” “Blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places.” But we cannot enjoy one of these blessings apart
from the conflict of faith. (A. B. Mackay.)
Ownership and possession
Here is a great promise with a sharp limitation: “Every place is
yours--but every place only as you tread upon it, occupy, subdue, possess it.”
A most instructive parallel might be drawn between the subjugation of Palestine
by Israel and the settlement of America by the English. In both cases tyranny
at home had much to do with the movement, for the Stuarts of England and the
Pharaohs of Egypt held essentially the same views of royal prerogative, In both
cases the country was already occupied by aborigines, and the free, wild life
of the Jebusites and the Amorites was not unlike that of the Iroquois and Sioux
Indians. In both cases the land was parcelled out before it was actually
possessed. In both cases possession was achieved only through long and
obstinate struggle with an enemy continually defeated, but stubbornly refusing
to submit. According to the royal grants, Massachusetts and Virginia
reached through to the Pacific Ocean. It required five minutes to draw the long
parallels on the royal map; it needed two centuries actually to push
civilisation across the continent, and the work is not yet finished. Ownership
comes before possession, and is useless without it. The Divine giving is always
done along this line. In dealing with the fields and the forests, God pours out
sunshine and rain unasked, and the earth can only lie helpless, now flooded and
now parched with heat. But in dealing with men made in His image, God’s giving
is a far finer and more subtle process. There is in it a wondrous delicacy that
seems to fear refusal, that is busied chiefly with finding a place in which the
gift is wanted. He gives us the title-deed, the motive-power, the strength, the
gladness, and then says, “Enter and possess.” We are all familiar with this in
the intellectual realm. You put into your son’s hand a Virgil or a Shakespeare.
“Now,” you say, “he has the works of Shakespeare, or Virgil.” Has them?--he has
the possibility, the opportunity! It is a great thing to have that; thousands
have remained ignorant for want of that. But when you possess an author, the
book in the hand will be only a subordinate affair. You will know the man
himself; lines will flash out upon you at your toil, great sweet thoughts will
recur in dreams, passages will intertwine with all your daily task, and when
you possess Shakespeare, he will possess you. You give your son teachers and
schools--there your power stops. You seat your daughter at the piano, but for
musical power, culture, achievement--she must enter into and possess these, or
she will for ever stand outside. You buy a home. The papers are signed, the
deed is recorded; instantaneously the house is yours. But then comes the
process of moving into it. Every season you move a little further in; through
days of birth and bridal when the joy bells ring, through days of grief when
all the bells are muffled, you are growing into that house, and when men ask,
“Why don’t you move up town?” you say, “My heart is here; this place I love.”
So Jesus Christ comes to a man at the entrance of Christian life, and puts him
into ownership. “To as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become
the sons of God.” He bestows upon us the title-deeds unencumbered. He spreads
before us a great territory, and says, “That is yours.” Forgiveness for sins
that are past, an inner quietness which naught can ruffle, a balm for life’s
hurts and bruises, a daily strength for daily needs, a courage that rises with
obstacles and never knows defeat, all this is ours--if we will make it ours.
Ours to possess, to enjoy, to experience. There is an old-fashioned phrase that
had a deal of truth in it “experiencing religion.” A man has just as much
religion as he has experienced; only when talking of our experience let
us not go back twenty years--let us review the last twenty-four hours. How was
it with me last evening? Was God last night in my soul, was I filled with
serenity and courage and devotion to other souls, not twenty years ago, but
last night? Our Bible is no larger than our reading of the Bible. Some men have
a Bible consisting of a few Psalms and half a dozen chapters in the Gospels.
Others have a Bible that is a patchwork of half-remembered texts, put together
in childhood and now badly faded. A man with a rich, deep Christian experience
cannot be content with a few threadbare chapters, he is ever reaching into new
territory. So it is with the various great truths of the Christian
religion--all are ours, but ours only as we possess them. The true use of a
creed is not to set forth what men must believe, but to record what men do
believe. And the man who is growing will find his creed growing too, growing
indeed more simple, but growing stronger, and deeper, and broader. A grown man
with a child’s religion is like a man trying to content himself with nursery
toys--he is soon disgusted with his attempt. But when a man is constantly
moving onward, then one truth after another will reveal its inner meaning to
his soul. We cannot expect that all truths will be equally precious in any one
day. There is a rotation of crops in the spiritual life, and everything is
“beautiful in his time.” There is always one truth that shines brightest, as
there is always one star on the meridian. Other stars will follow and culminate
in their season. I think often with a strange awe of the first settlers of the
Atlantic States, as they came across the sea, bearing the maps which gave them
rights extending to the Pacific. This is just the conditions of some of us
to-day. The boundless possibilities of Christianity lie before us Jesus Christ
comes to us saying, “It is all yours--a Christian life, a Christian death, a
Christian heaven, it is yours if you will take it.” And if we do not by
voluntary act enter into what He offers, then the offer is to us absolutely
worthless. The truth heard Sunday after Sunday is then only a genuine damage,
making the heart
each week less sensitive, less responsive--“it hardens all within and petrifies
the feeling.” But let us return to the text again. “Every place that the sole
of your foot shall tread upon”--surely there is a hint here of the slow and
toilsome process of spiritual acquisition. I do not hold out before any man a
Christian life that is free from effort. Christianity at sight is always a
delusion. At sight of Jesus we are indeed ushered into new relation and
position. But then comes the path, sometimes winding through the shadow, sometimes
leading straight uphill, always leading heavenward and always bright with an
unseen Friend. So it is with the entire advance of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Sometimes when we are impatient and fretful let us remember that here, too,
walking is the normal movement. Why God doesn’t convert India to-day is to us a
mystery. That great movements should pace so slowly, and the advance be so
measured and unequal, seems to us incomprehensible. One other suggestion is
here--a hint that the farther a man travels the richer he becomes. Mountain
range or lowly valley, forest or verdant meadow, whatsoever experience of God’s
love and grace we pass through, that is ours for ever. We learn more of man’s
weakness but more of God’s power, and the more we truly know the gladder shall
we really be. New experiences are to be ours, and the best is yet to come. (W.
H. P. Faunce.)
Foothold
There are many curious legends regarding the way in which land
grants were given in former times. We read of one man who got from his king as
much land as he could ride round while the king slept; of another who was
granted as much land as could be covered by a bull’s hide, which he cut into a
continuous narrow strip, capable of enclosing a large area; of a third who was
promised as much land as a bushel of barley would sow, which he was careful to
sow as sparsely as possible, so that it might extend the borders of his farm to
the utmost limits. At an annual fair, held in August, at the village of
Carnwath, in Scotland, a foot-race is run as the tenure by which the property
in the neighbourhood is held by the Lockhart family. The prize is a pair of red
hose or stockings, and the proprietor used to have a messenger ready whenever
the race was run to tell the result to the Lord Advocate of Scotland. In
conformity with these ancient methods of land-measuring, God promised to Moses
first, and renewed His promise to Joshua after the death of Moses, that He
would give the Israelites every place that the sole of their foot should tread
upon. It was a primitive custom to measure out the land that was to be
cultivated or built upon by the foot; and a foot is still one of the terms of
measurement among us derived from the human member. By primitive people the
footprint was regarded as the symbol of possession, denoting that the land had
been marked out by the foot of the individual, and so acquired as his own
property. Some scholars derive the origin of the word “possession” itself from pedis
positio, the position of the foot; and it was a maxim of the ancient
jurists that whatever a person’s foot touched was his. On the tombs of the
ancient Romans, Christians and pagans alike, is often sculptured the symbol of
a foot, to indicate that these tombs were the property of the persons who
reposed in them. This primitive ceremony will also explain the allusion in Psalms 108:1-13., where God speaks of
dividing Shechem and meting out the valley of Succoth, casting His shoe over
Edom, and triumphing over Philistia, and in this way taking possession for His
people of the whole land of Canaan, while the Book of Ruth informs us that
taking off the shoe from the foot signified the transfer or renunciation of
property or of rights. (H. Macmillan, D. D.)
Something to be done to gain possession
In all primitive methods of allotting land--strange as some of
them may appear to the modern legal mind--there was something to be done by the
possessor himself in order to get possession. His tenure was made valid only by
some personal act in connection with the property. He could not own a tract of
land which he had not seen, as you might do in Australia, or New Zealand, or in
the backwoods of America, although you were never there. It was necessary, in
order that the land should become his, that he should do something in
connection with it which implied a personal appropriation on the spot. This is
the true significance of the curious antique rites by which persons got
possession of land. They measured it with their feet, not only in marking it
off, but also by passing frequently to and fro over its surface in ploughing
and sowing, and all the other labours required for its cultivation, and thus
literally obtained a foothold in it. And the same principle holds good still,
although these quaint archaic customs have long been discontinued. As regards
the new lands in the colonies bestowed upon emigrants by Government, it is
absolutely necessary that the persons to whom they are allotted should
cultivate the ground and erect buildings on it in order to secure their right
of possession. They cannot hold their lands merely upon paper, without ever
coming near them, or doing anything to reclaim them from the wilderness. It is
thus a universally recognised principle that the right of ownership of the
earth is acquired by human labour, man bringing himself in some form or other
into direct personal contact with the soil. This is the ultimate ground of
ownership to which all can appeal. God gave Abraham the promise of possessing
the Holy Land, but Abraham did not get the fulfilment of that promise by
remaining in Ur of the Chaldees. He had to leave his home, journey over the
wide intervening desert, and traverse on foot the land of promise from end to
end. God intended the Israelites to measure out with their feet, and so take
possession, according to immemorial custom, of the whole region from Lebanon to
the desert, and from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates. But they stayed their
feet, and actually measured only a little strip of land, which was parcelled
out among the twelve tribes; while the Canaanites, the Philistines, and the
Syrians, and all the desert tribes, were allowed, by the easy terms which the
Israelites made with them, to possess in peace by far the largest part of the
heritage of the chosen people. Even in the palmiest days of David and Solomon,
when the possessions of the Israelites were most extensive, they never reached
the limits which God had intended for them. The great lesson, then, which the
text conveys to us is that the Israelites owned only as much of the land of
promise as they actually trod with the sole of their foot. They had a large
promise, but it was to be made good by their own exertions. It is God’s law,
true of your spiritual inheritance as of the ancient literal inheritance of
Israel, that only as much as you measure out with the sole of your foot is
truly your own. You have the Bible, and you think you know it well; and yet of
this vast religious literature you only really know a mere fragment. You
confine your reading to your favourite passages, while you leave the rest
unstudied; and yet it is in these neglected parts that new truth is most often
to be found. Then you have the privileges and blessings of grace! They are
great and extensive, but they are conditioned by the same law that only what
you live up to, appropriate, and realise of them is your own. God’s
superabounding grace is limited by the bounds you yourselves put upon it. If
you are made straitly, God’s blessing must needs straiten to you. Your
salvation is just as much as, and no more than, you yourselves experience of
it. Christ says to you m every case, “According to your faith be it unto you.”
Then there is your own individual Christian life. What a vast, unclaimed,
untrodden land of promise it is l You have each a boundless capacity; “you are
made to seek, to long for the infinite truth, the infinite good, the infinite
love.” How little have the greatest saints been able to fill up the grand
outline which God sketched out at first when He made man in His own image! How
far short have you all come of God’s design for you, and even of your own
ideal! You have contracted the bounds of your being and the bounds of
your world to the smallest dimensions by your devotion to the petty and passing
things of earth. And then there is the heavenly Canaan, the true land of
promise, towards which you profess to be walking day by day as pilgrims and
strangers on earth. God has given it to all His true Israel; but they shall
only possess as much of it as they shall tread with the sole of their foot. You
will only get as much of heaven as you are fit for; and in the case of many I
fear that will be but a very small bit. (H Macmillan, D. D.)
All the land of the
Hittites.--
The land of the Hittites
One geographical expression, in the delimitation of the country,
demands a brief explanation. While the country is defined as embracing the
whole territory from Lebanon to the Euphrates, it is also defined as consisting
in that direction of “all the land of the Hittites.” But were not the Hittites
one of the seven nations whose land was promised to Abraham and the fathers,
and not even the first in the enumeration of these? Why should this great
north-eastern section of the promised domain be designated “the land of the
Hittites”? The time was when it was a charge against the accuracy of the
Scripture record that it ascribed to the Hittites this extensive dominion. That
time has passed away, inasmuch as, within quite recent years, the discovery has
been made that in those distant
times a great Hittite empire did exist in the very region specified, between
Lebanon and the Euphrates. The discovery is based on twofold data:
references in the Egyptian and other monuments to a powerful people, called the
Khita (Hittites), with whom even the great kings of Egypt had long and bloody
wars; and inscriptions in the Hittite language found in Hamah, Aleppo, and
other places in Syria. There is still much obscurity resting on the history of
this people. That the Hittites proper prevailed so extensively has been doubted
by some; a Hittite confederacy has been supposed, and sometimes a Hittite
aristocracy exercising control over a great empire. The only point which it is
necessary to dwell on here is, that in representing the tract between Lebanon
and Euphrates as equivalent to “all the land of the Hittites,” the author of
the Book of Joshua made a statement which has been abundantly verified by
recent research. (W. G. Blaikie, D. D.)
There shall not any man be
able to stand before thee.--
Joshua on the march
“There shall not any man be able,” &c. “Well,” you say, “it
does not require any great courage to go out with a backing like that.” I
reply, God promised Joshua no more than He promises you and me in our
conflicts. The framer of the universe, the chieftain of all eternity, has
pledged all His resources to see us through, and He promised no more than that
to Joshua. His first undertaking was to cross the river Jordan in a spring
freshet. You might as well talk of wading across the Hudson river at Yonken as
to think of wading the river Jordan at the season of which I am speaking. The
Canaanites on the other side felt perfectly secure. But one day Joshua orders
out his troops, and tells them to fall into line. “Forward: march!” They pass
on towards the river, and it seems as if the light armed troops, and the
spearmen, and the archers, and all their leaders, must be swept down in the
fearful flood. Let them prepare, you say, for a watery grave. March on. Come to
the other bank. They reach the bank, and they pull themselves up its steep,
thirty or forty feet in height--they pull themselves up the bank by the
oleanders, and the tamarisks, and the willows, until they reach the top. No
sooner have they climbed up this high bank than with dash, and roar, and
terrific rush, the waters of the Jordan break loose from their strange
anchorage. God never makes any provision for the Christian’s retreat. He clears
the path to Canaan if we go ahead; if we go back we die. Victory ahead! Darkness,
flood, ruin, and death behind! You say: “Why didn’t those Canaanites destroy
Joshua and his troops while they had a chance? Here they were, on a bank thirty
or forty feel high. There were the Israelites under Joshua down in the bed of
the stream. Why didn’t the Canaanites fight back these invaders?” The promise
had been given, and the Lord God keeps His promise. “There shall not any man be
able to stand before thee all the days of thy life.” But we cannot stop here.
It is no place for Joshua’s troops to stay. What is that in the distance? At
the end of a grove of palms eight miles long is the chief city Jericho, the
great metropolis. Take it Joshua must. “Take it Joshua can’t,” say the
unbelievers. Joshua rises up to his full stature, and he gives the command. He
feels the right moment has come, and he says: “Shout! for the Lord hath given
you the city,” and the command is heard, and the people all together cry:
“Down, Jericho! down, Jericho!” and that long line of solid masonry begins to
quiver, and then crash go the walls, the temples, the palaces, until the earth
quakes, and the heavens are blackened with the dust, and the shriek of the
crushed city and the huzza of the victorious Israelites commingle. This is no
place to stop. “Forward: march!” There is city of Ai to be taken. “Oh!” says a
scouting party just come back from that city, “you can take that very easily.
Joshua, you need not go; you stay, and few of us will go and take that city.”
They started out in pompous order to take the city of Ai. The men of Ai came
out and gave one yell, and away ran the Israelites like reindeer. Our northern
troops, at Bull Run, made slow time compared with those Israelites with the men
of Ai after them. We have no right to go into the Lord’s conflict having only
half our force. Body, mind, soul, reputation, property--everything--must be
marshalled, equipped, launched for God, and against our enemies. And soon the
retreating army come up. They say: “Oh! general, we are all cut to pieces.
Those men of Ai are awful people. We are all cut to pieces.” Joshua falls down
on his face in chagrin. But how did God arouse Joshua? Did He address him in
some complimentary apostrophe? No. He says: “Get thee up. Why liest thou thus
on thy face?” Joshua arose, I suppose, looking mortified; but his old courage
came back again. He marshals all the Israelites, and he says: “We will go up en
masse, and we will take the city of Ai.” And as I see the smoke of the
burning city curling in the sky, and as I hear the groans of the defeated men
of Ai, and the victorious shout of the Israelites, Joshua hears something
better than that: “There shall not any man be able,” &c. Joshua’s troops
cannot stop yet. “Forward: march!” says Joshua; for there is the city of
Gibeon; it has put itself under the wing of Joshua’s protection, and Joshua
must defend it. Joshua makes a three days’ march in one night. Prepare now to
see the Gettysburgh, the Waterloo, the Sedan of the ancients. It is not yet
quite sundown in Joshua’s day, and we will have time for five royal funerals.
Who will preach their funeral sermon? Massillon preached the funeral sermon of
Louis XIX. Dr. Robert South preached a sermon commemorative of Charles
I. Who will preach
the funeral sermon of these five bad kings? Joshua. And what shall be his text?
“There shall not any man be able,” &c. “Oh,” you say, “it is a pity to bury
these five kings so ignominiously.” No, sir; before that rock is sealed up I
want to put in five more beings, first having them beheaded--King Alcohol, King
Fraud, King Lust, King Superstition, King Bigotry. Have them all in. Cover them
over with a mound of broken decanters and the debris of their miserable
doings. Roll a rock against that cave so they never can get out. Then chisel
for these last five kings the same epitaph you had for the other five kings;
and let all the Christian reformers and philanthropists, before the sun of
their protracted day of usefulness is ended, come up and read it. (T. De
Witt Talmage.)
Victory assured
There is no foe to your growth in grace, no enemy in your
Christian work, no dreaded form of evil dominating and cursing the souls of
men, which was not included in your Saviour’s conquests. You need not be afraid
of them. When you touch them, they will flee before you. God has promised to
deliver them up before you. There shall no man of them be able to stand before
you. Neither Anakim nor fenced cities need daunt you. You are one of the
conquering legion. Claim your share in the Saviour’s victory. (F. B. Meyer,
B. A.)
I will not fail thee, nor
forsake thee.--
A great promise
I. The import of
the promise.
1. It includes in it more than that natural and essential presence
of God which surrounds all beings and all things; for the essence of God is
diffused through the trackless path of immensity.
2. It refers to God’s special and gracious presence.
3. A more than ordinary communication of God’s presence is
vouchsafed to those who are called out to services of peculiar difficulty, to
offices of high responsibility.
II. The certainty
of the fulfilment of this promise. I feel assured of its fulfilment when I
reflect--
1. On the Author of this promise. “I will be with thee. I will not
leave thee,” &c. “God is not a man that He should lie, neither the Son of
man that He should repent.”
2. The terms in which the promise is couched. Repetition, but no
tautology.
3. Experience. Was not God with Moses?
III. The advantages
which the fulfilment of this promise will throw over your whole life. Oh, let
but this be fulfilled, and you are safe for both worlds, for time and for
eternity! Mark its influence--
1. On the hours of solitude. Every real Christian will wish to be
alone: he will say, “I am never less alone than when alone.”
2. On your intercourse with society. Others will take knowledge of
you, that you have been with Jesus.
3. On your conduct. Prudence; benevolence; sanctity.
4. On afflictions and distresses. If God be with us, no weapon shall
prosper against us, no trap shall catch us, no pit shall ensnare us.
5. On the days of life’s decline, and in the immediate prospect of
its conclusion. All earthly attachments are doomed to be dissolved; but God is
ever with His servants, especially when most needed.
Lessons:
1. Admire the astonishing condescension and grace of God, that He
should thus address Himself to worms of the earth, to sinful worms, to such as
you and I are!
2. Let me ask you if you have an interest in this promise.
3. Be very thankful for any measure of the fulfilment of this
promise which you may have enjoyed. (G. Clayton, M. A.)
God with us through life
I. The interest
which God takes in men’s lives.
1. Every event is closely observed by Him.
2. He often comes unsolicited and unthought of. Like the mother who,
while attending to the duties of her household, still keeps her eye on the
little one at play, that she may interpose in time of danger.
II. God appeals to
his past conduct to encourage his servant to trust in him.
1. We are influenced more by the past conduct of a friend than by
his promises.
2. There are degrees of manifested interest, care, and love. God was
with Moses--
III. The bestowal of
the blessings included in this declaration was made dependent upon Joshua’s
obedience. He who will not keep God’s law cannot have the presence of God with
him. (A London Clergyman.)
A great promise
I. It is a great
promise. For it includes everything. God’s presence can supply wisdom, can give
strength, and will insure success.
II. It was to a
great man.
1. He was humble.
2. He was trained had followed the Jews from Egypt.
3. He was good. Not one notorious sin or evil habit is recorded of
him as there is of nearly every other noted character in Scripture. He was the
only one who withstood the test of the wilderness journey.
III. It was in
reference to a great work.
1. The conquering the promised land.
2. The organising the people.
3. The vindicating the power and glory of God. (Homilist.)
Strengthening medicine for God’s servants
I. The suitability
of the consolation which these words gave to Joshua. “I will not fail thee, nor
forsake thee.”
1. This must have been very cheering to him in reference to himself.
Joshua may possibly have been somewhat despondent under a very pressing sense
of his own deficiencies; and this cheering assurance would meet his case. If
God be with our weakness it waxes strong; if He be with our folly it rises into
wisdom; if He be with our timidity it gathers courage.
2. The consolation given to Joshua would be exceedingly suitable in
the presence of his enemies. Surely, in the presence of God, Anakim become
dwarfs, strongholds become as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, and chariots of
iron are as thistledown upon the hillside driven before the blast. “If God be
for us, who can be against us?” They that be with us are more than they that be
against us, when once the Lord of hosts is seen in our ranks.
3. This consolation, too, was sufficient for all supplies. Perhaps
Joshua knew that the manna was no longer to fall. “I will not fail thee, nor
forsake thee” was a supply which would meet all the demands of the
commissariat. When the Lord opens all His granaries none shall lack for bread,
and when He unlocks His wardrobes none shall go bare.
4. Surely this word must often have brought consolation to the heart
of Joshua when he saw the people failing him. Oh, what a blessed thing it is in
a false and fickle world, where he that eats bread with us lifts up his heel
against us, where the favourite counsellor becomes an Ahithophel, and turns his
wisdom into crafty hate, to know that “there is a Friend that sticketh closer
than a brother,” one who is faithful and gives us sure tokens of a love which
many waters cannot quench!
II. At what times
may we consider this promise to be spoken to ourselves?
1. Surely it is when we are called to do God’s work. Joshua’s work
was the Lord’s work. Do you know that God has put you where you are, and called
you to do the work to which your life is dedicated? Then go on in God’s name,
for, as surely as He called you to His work, you may be sure that to you also
He says, as indeed to all His servants, “I will not fail thee, nor forsake
thee.”
2. But I hear some of you say, “We are not engaged in work of such a
kind that we could precisely call it ‘ work for God.’“ Well, but are you
engaged in a work which you endeavour to perform to God’s glory? Is your
ordinary trade one which is lawful--one concerning which you have no doubt as
to its honest propriety; and in carrying it on do you follow right principles
only?
3. We must, if we are to have this promise, take God into our
calculations. A great many persons go about their supposed lifework without
thinking about God. You must walk by faith if you are to enjoy the privileges
of the faithful.
4. We must also be careful that we walk in God’s ways. Observe that
the next verse to the text runs thus, “Be strong and of a good courage,” and
then the seventh verse is a singular one, “Only be thou strong,” &c. What
for? To obey! Does it want courage and strength to obey? Why, nowadays, that
man is thought to be courageous who will have no laws of God to bind him; and
he is thought to be strong-minded who ridicules revelation. But let us rest
assured that he is truly strong of mind and heart who is content to be thought
a fool, and sticks to the good old truth, and keeps the good old way.
III. What this
promise does not preclude.
1. This promise does not exclude effort. If you want to succeed, use
every faculty you have, and put forth all your strength; and if it is a right
cause you may then fall back on this promise.
2. Neither does this promise preclude occasional disaster. Yes, and
without the violation of any law, the best man in the world must expect in the
most successful enterprise that there will be some discouragements. Look at the
sea: it is rolling in, it will rise to full tide before long, but every wave
that comes up dies upon the shore; and after two or three great waves which
seem to capture the shingle there comes a feebler one which sucks back. Very
well, but the sea will win, and reach its fulness. So in every good work for
God there is a back-drawing wave every now and then. God will certainly test
you, but He will not fail you, nor forsake you.
3. Nor, again, does this promise preclude frequent tribulations and
testings of faith. In the autobiography of the famous Francke of Halle, who
built, and, in the hand of God, provided for, the orphan-house of Halle, he
says, “I thought when I committed myself and my work to God by faith, that I
had only to pray when I had need, and that the supplies would come; but I found
that I had sometimes to wait and pray for a long time.” The supplies did come,
but not at once. The pinch never went so far as absolute want; but there were
intervals of severe pressure. There was nothing to spare. Every spoonful of
meal had to be scraped from the bottom of the barrel, and every drop of oil
that oozed out seemed as if it must be the last; but still it never did come to
the last drop, and there was always just a little meal left. God has not
promised to take any of you to heaven without trying your faith.
4. This promise does not preclude our suffering very greatly, and
our dying, and perhaps dying a very sad and terrible death, as men judge. God
never left Paul, but I have seen the spot where Paul’s head was smitten off by
the headsman. The Lord never left Peter, but Peter, like his Master, had to die
by crucifixion. The Lord never left the martyrs, but they had to ride to heaven
in chariots of fire.
IV. What, then,
does the text mean, if we may have all this trial happening to us?
1. Your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. Press on. We have
heard of a minister who added only one to his Church through a long year of
very earnest ministry--only one, a sad thing for him; but that one happened to
be Robert Moffatt, and he was worth a thousand of most of us. Go on. If you
bring but one to Christ, who shall estimate the value of the one?
2. And then there shall be no desertion as to yourself, for your
heavenly Friend has said, “I will not forsake thee.” You will not be left alone
or without a helper. You are thinking of what you will do in old age. Do not
think of that: think of what God will do for you in old age. Oh, but your great
need and long illness will wear out your friends, you say. Perhaps you may wear
out your friends, but you will not wear out your God, and He can raise up new helpers
if the old ones fail. Oh, but your infirmities are many, and will soon crush
you down: you cannot live long in such circumstances. Very well, then you will
be in heaven; and that is far better. But you dread pining sickness. It may
never come; and suppose it should come, remember what will come with it--“I
will make all thy bed in thy sickness.” “I will never leave thee, nor forsake
thee”--so runs the promise. “Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not
dismayed, for I am thy God.”
V. Why may we be
quite sure that this promise will re fulfilled to us?
1. I answer, first, we may be quite sure because it is God’s
promise. Did ever any promise of God fall to the ground yet?
2. Rent ye well assured that if a man be called to do God’s work God
will not fail him, because it is not after the manner of the Lord to desert His
servants. He will not push His servants into severe conflicts and then fail
them.
3. Besides, remember that should God’s servants fail, if they are
really God’s servants, the enemy would exult and boast against the Lord
Himself. This was a great point with Joshua in after-days (Joshua 7:9). If the Lord raises up
Luther, and does not help Luther, then it is not Luther that fails; it is God
that fails, in the estimation of the world.
4. Besides, if God has raised you up to accomplish a purpose by you,
do you think He will be defeated? Were ever any of His designs frustrated?
5. Besides, if we trust God, and live for God, He loves us much too
well to leave us. It is not to be imagined that He will ever put a load upon
His own children’s shoulders without giving them strength to bear the burden,
or send them to labours for which He will not give them adequate resources. Oh,
rest in the Lord, ye faithful. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Be strong and of a good
courage.--
A great -promise and a stirring exhortation
What the heathen gods are fabled to have done with some of their
favourite warriors, God here and now does to this His first soldier-saint,
sending him forth to the fray invulnerable, invincible. By faith in this great
promise, Joshua is more than conqueror. Poor and tame in comparison is the “Veni,
vidi, vici!” of Rome’s great hero. God’s presence is pledged to Joshua
unconditionally and unalterably. Oh, highly favoured Joshua! Yes, and also
highly favoured saints, for even with a like great and precious promise do we
go a warfare against evil. In regard to both the outer and the inner conflict
in which we are engaged we
should always remember that we are on the winning side. The battle is the
Lord’s. “Forward” is the Divine command. We are not to make up our minds for
defeat, but to march in the assurance of victory. “My grace is sufficient for
thee.” This promise gives us power as we face error of every kind. The enemies of the gospel
in these days are proud and boastful. If we were to judge by their shouts, we
should think that the whole fabric of Christianity was falling to pieces. Have
we anything to pit against these enemies? Most assuredly. The Divine presence,
as in the case of Joshua, is pledged to be with us. This great promise given to
Joshua was followed up by a stirring exhortation. Courage! this peal of bells
rings out in all its changes. Why? Because Joshua was a coward? Nay, he had the
heart of a lion, but because courage is the fundamental virtue in every saint
of God, in every soldier of righteousness, in every witness for the truth. One
of the great wants of the day is courage, courage to confess Christ in every
company and on all occasions; courage to hold fast to His every word; courage
to do all His will; courage to follow wherever He leads. It is called a good
courage, and no virtue better deserves the epithet, for it is good whether we
consider its qualities or its achievements, the throne on which it sits or the
crown with which it is adorned. It is good courage because it is obedient, not
self-willed, obstinate, headstrong. Again and again the greatest exploits of
courage have been summed up in the words, “I must obey God.” Such courage is of
the highest quality. It can never quail, because conscious of eternal
rectitude. It is a good courage also because it is studious and humble. Its aim
being to obey all God’s will, in the spirit as well as in the letter, it gives
all diligence to know God’s will. Accordingly, the hero of Jehovah meditates in
God’s law day and night; takes counsel not with flesh and blood, but with the
living oracles, and finds therein all his comfort, strength, and light. This
good courage, being obedient and studious, is also intelligent. It observes
with watchful care the hints of Providence and the checks of conscience. It
learns better every day what God’s will is in all things. Remember that such
courage is the great secret of success. This above all things frightens our
great adversary the devil. Satan has no dread of learning, or wisdom, or
riches, but he does fear tile courage of a soul resting in communion with God.
And well he may, for this courage arms the soul with Divine might. (A. B. Mackay.)
The sources of Joshua’s strength
I. A faithful past
The aloe blooms but once in a hundred years, but every hour of all that century
is needed to produce the delicate texture and resplendent beauty of the flower.
The deed of a Grace Darling is not the sudden outburst of the moment that gives
it birth, but the result of long years of self-discipline, courage, and
ministry to others. And this summons of Joshua to the leader’s place in Israel
was the guerdon of more than eighty years of faithful service. None of us can
tell for what God is educating us. We fret and murmur at the narrow round and
daily task of ordinary life, not realising that it is only thus that we can be
prepared for the high and holy office which awaits us. We must descend before
we can ascend. God’s will comes to thee and me in daily circumstances, in
little things equally as in great; meet them bravely; be at your best always,
though the occasion be one of the very least; dignify the smallest summons by
the greatness of your response; so the call will come to you as to Joshua, the
son of Nun, Moses’ minister.
II. A distinct call
The supreme inquiry for each of us, when summoned to a new work, is not whether
we possess sufficient strength or qualification for it, but if we have been called
to it of God; and when that is so there is no further cause for anxiety. If it
is in His plan that we should march through a river, or attack a walled town,
or turn to flight an army, we have simply to go forward. Rivers will dry up,
walls will fall down, armies shall be scattered as snow in summer. There is no
such thing as impossibility when God says, “Forward, soul, arise, go over this
Jordan!”
III. The sense of
the presence of God. There have been generals whose presence on the field of
battle has been the presage and guarantee of victory. Not only have they
inspired the soldiers with a sense of confidence in their leadership, but they
have encouraged them by their personal prowess and bravery. There is a
marvellous sense of security and courage when a Christiana, a Mr. Fearing, or a
Miss Much-Afraid is assured of the presence of a Greatheart, who has never
turned his back on a foe. And a lonely, trembling soul dares to step bravely
across the margin of life into the unknown beyond: to go down unabashed into
the chill waters of death, because it can sing, “Thou art with me; Thy rod and
Thy staff they comfort me.”
IV. The indwelling
of the word of God. Coal contains within its texture the strength absorbed from
the sun in bygone ages; so words will pass on to men the heroic thoughts which
thrilled the souls of those who spake them first. There are words, as there are
strains of music, which cannot be uttered without nerving men to dare and do,
to attempt and achieve. A woman will be strong to wait and suffer for long
years in the strength of a sentence spoken by her lover as he parted from her:
An army has before now forgot sleepless nights and hungry marches in the
stirring harangue of its general. And is not this what the prophet meant, when
he said, “Thy words were found and I did eat them, and Thy words were unto me a
joy, and the rejoicing of my heart”? and what Jesus meant when He said, “The
words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life “? We can do
all things when Christ is in us in unthwarted power. The only limit lies in our
faith and capacity, or, in other words, in our absolute submission to His
indwelling. Little children can overcome when there is within them a Stronger
than their foes. Weaklings may do exploits when the Mighty Conqueror who
travels in the greatness of His strength makes them the vehicle of His
progress. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
The strength and courage needed for common life
“Be thou strong and very courageous.” What to do? To lead the
army? To batter down strong walls and enter into the imminent, deadly breach?
Nay, all this is left out of sight; the exhortation to be “strong and very
courageous” is given solely with a moral application. A man shows himself more
brave in an inflexible adherence to the law of God as the the rule of his life
in all things than in any feats of arms or deeds of daring.
I. A sufficient
rule of guidance for life. Joshua had; we have. Our law is the whole gospel, as
requiring from us a practical and loving and continuous obedience. To be
“strong” is to make endeavour to go forward and grasp something in the Divine
life; it is to take up a certain position in practical obedience, and say (not
ostentatiously yet clearly), “I am here, I stand by this.” To be “of good
courage” is to maintain that position against the force of temptation and
opposition of every kind; is to say firmly, “Here I shall abide, I cannot go
back from this.” Well, but a life that consists of gaining new positions, and
grasping new things, and defending all that is thus attained, is of necessity a
life of enterprise and progress. And such a life, in this world, will certainly
meet with a great deal of opposition, silent and declared, and will require a
great deal of strength and courage in those who seek to lead it.
1. Indeed, we might truly say that strength and courage are needed
at home, and with ourselves, before we meet the world at all. The critical
point of the struggle is within. Let me be strong, then, against my inferior
self! Let me grip him hard, and wrestle with him, until he is overthrown! Let
me be very courageous against his withering and insidious suggestions.
2. Then also, strength and courage are needed constantly and much in
the Church, i.e., among Christian people. One Christian needs to be
strong against other Christians--in this way as well as in others--that every
Christian has his own inner thought of what he ought to be and do; his own
ideal, as we call it.
3. Then still more is courage needed, and strength, when you go more
fully out into the world. Here are certain principles in the law of Christ, as
the regulative system of a Christian’s life, principles of honour and-honesty,
of purity, sobriety, love, and self-denial, of humility and gentleness, which
are clearly different from the principles that obtain in the world generally.
Not that contrary principles are professed openly in the world except by a few;
but that contrary, or at any rate far inferior, principles are acted upon,
through the world, in its different spheres, commercial, political, literary,
social, is just as certain as it is that there is a world at all. One great
point of duty with Christians just now, I think, ought to be the endeavour to
live simple lives, so as, if possible, to pull back this drifting society of
ours towards the simplicity it has lost.
4. Again, it is sometimes necessary to speak frankly and boldly in
condemnation of the action or in opposition to the speaking of others.
II. How we may
attain this temper and habit of Christian courage. It is fed by truth, by the
law, or the revealed truth of God. What men call “spirit,” the mere clash and
effervescence of nature, will soon evaporate; but when the soul has found the
flowing fountains of strength, and drinks of the same day by day, her courage
will be day by day renewed. Again, not only must we take the Word of God into
our daily thought and meditation, but believing the wonderful assurance it
gives us of the actual presence of the speaker, the Lord, with those who serve
Him, we must make room for Him in our daily life, and lean upon the almighty
arm, and even in the darkest and most unsuccessful moments sit silent to hear
the great reviving words, “The Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou
goest.” (A. Raleigh,D. D.)
The charge to the soldier of the Lord
I. The duty of
courageous strength. Christianity has altered the perspective of human virtues,
has thrown the gentler ones into prominence altogether unknown before, and has
dimmed the brilliancy of the old heroic type of character; but it has not
struck those virtues out of its list. Still, there is as much need in the
lowliest Christian life for the loftiest heroism as ever there was. All
Christian progress is conflict, and we have to fight, not only with the evils
that are within, but if we would be true to the obligations of our profession
and loyal to the commands of our Master, we have to take our part in the great
campaign which He has inaugurated and is ever carrying on against every abuse
and oppression, iniquity and sin, that grinds down the world and makes our
brethren miserable and servile. Be strong! Then strength is a duty; then
weakness is a sin. Then the amount of strength that we possess and wield is
regulated by ourselves. We have our hands on the sluice. We may open it to let
the whole full tide run in, or we may close it till a mere dribble reaches us.
For the strength which is strength, and not merely weakness in a fever, is a
strength derived. “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” Let
Christ’s strength in. Open the heart wide that it may come. Keep yourself in
continual touch with God, the fountain of all power. Trust is strength, because
trust touches the Rock of Ages. But courage is duty, too, as well as strength.
Power and the consciousness of power do not always go together. In regard of
the strength of nature, courage and might are quite separable. There may be a
strong coward and a weak hero. But in the spiritual region, strength and
courage do go together. The consciousness of the Divine power with us, and that
alone, will make us bold with a boldness that has no taint of levity and
presumption mingled with it, and never will overestimate its own strength.
II. The duty of
implicit obedience to the word of command. Courage and strength come first, and
on them follows the command to do all according to the law, to keep it without
deflection to right or left, and to meditate on it day and night. These two
virtues make the perfect soldier--courage and obedience. But the connection
between these two is not merely that they must co-exist, but that courage and
strength are needed for, and are to find their noblest field of exercise in,
absolute acceptance of, and unhesitating, swift, complete, unmurmuring
obedience to, everything that is discerned to be God’s will and our duty. For
the Christian soldier, then, God’s law is his marching orders. The written
Word, and especially the Incarnate Word, are our law of conduct. Christ has
given us Him self, and therein has given a sufficient directory for conduct and
conflict which fits close to all our needs, and will prove definite and
practical enough if we honestly try to apply it. The application of Christ’s
law to daily life takes some courage, and is the proper field for the exercise
of Christian strength. If you are not a bold Christian you will very soon get
frightened out of obedience to your Master’s commandments. Courage, springing
from the realisation of God’s helping strength, is indispensable to make any
man, in any age, live out, thoroughly and consistently, the principles of the
the law of Jesus Christ. No man in this generation will work out a punctual
obedience to what he knows to be the will of God, without finding out that all
the Canaanites are not dead yet, but that there are enough of them left to make
a very thorny life for the consistent follower of Jesus Christ. And not only is
there courage needed for the application of the principles of conduct which God
has given us, but you will never have them handy for swift application unless,
in many a quiet hour of silent, solitary, patient meditation, you have become
familiar with them.
III. The sure
victory of such bold obedience: “thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest”;
“thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then shalt thou have good success,”
or, as the last word might be rendered, “then shalt thou ‘act wisely.’” You may
not get victory from an earthly point of view, for many a man that lives strong
and courageous and joyfully obeying God’s law as far as he knows it, and
because he loves the Lawgiver, goes through life, and finds that, as far as the
world’s estimate is concerned, there is nothing but failure as his portion. The
success which my text means is the carrying out of conscientious convictions of
God’s will into practice. That is the only success that is worth talking about
or looking for. The man that succeeds in obeying and translating God’s will
into conduct is the victor, whatever be the outward fruits of his life. (A.
Maclaren, D. D.)
Strength and courage
Joshua must be strong and very courageous. But are strength and
courage really within our own power? Is strength not absolutely a Divine gift,
and as dependent on God in its ordinary degrees as it was in the case of Samson
in its highest degree? No doubt in a sense it is so; and yet the amount even of
our bodily strength is not wholly beyond our own control. As bodily strength is
undoubtedly weakened by careless living, by excess of eating and drinking, by
all irregular habits, by the breathing of foul air, by indolence and
self-indulgence of every kind, so undoubtedly it is increased and promoted by
attention to the simple laws of health, by activity and exercise, by sleep and
sabbatic rest, by the moderate use of wholesome food, as well as by abstinence
from hurtful drinks and drugs. And surely the duty of being strong, in so far
as such things can give strength, is of far more importance than many think;
for if we can thus maintain and increase our strength we shall be able to serve
both God and man much better and longer than we could otherwise have done. But
in Joshua’s ease it was no doubt strength and courage of soul that was mainly
meant. Even that is not wholly independent of the ordinary conditions of the
body. On the other hand, there are no doubt memorable cases where the
elasticity and power of the spirit have been in the very inverse ratio to the
strength of the body. By cheerful views of life and duty, natural depression
has been counteracted, and the soul filled with hope and joy. “The joy of the
Lord,” said Nehemiah, “is the strength of His people.” Fellowship with God, as
our reconciled God and Father in Christ, is a source of perpetual strength. Who
does not know the strengthening and animating influence of the presence even of
a friend, when we find his fresh and joyous temperament playing on us in some
season of depression? The radiance of his face, the cheeriness of his voice,
the elasticity of his movements seem to infuse new hope and courage into the
jaded soul. When he is gone we try to shake off the despondent feeling that has
seized us, and gird ourselves anew for the battle of life. And if such an
effect can be produced by fellowship with a fellow-creature, how much more by
fellowship with the infinite God!--especially when it is His work we are trying
to do, and when we have all His promises of help to rest on. “God is near thee,
therefore cheer thee,” is a perpetual solace and stimulus to the Christian
soul. (W. G. Blaikie, D. D.)
Christian fortitude
1. Fortitude in bearing.
2. Fortitude in attempting or assailing. (D. Featley, D. D.)
God’s strength made perfect in human weakness
What f must all they whom God uses be strong? Is it essential that
there should be strength of limb and muscle in the physical and moral
constitution of those who are called to do the Divine biddings in the world?
Because, if that be so, we who are like Ehud, left-handed, like Gideon, least
in our father’s house, or like Saul of Tarsus, painfully conscious of weakness,
can never get beyond the rank and file in the army of the Lord. And yet, may
not this reiterated appeal indicate that the heart of Joshua misgave him, and
that he was conscious of his utter inadequacy to fulfil the great commission
that was thrust upon him? Probably he had never dreamt of so high an honour, so
vast a responsibility. When, therefore, the call came to him to assume the
office which Moses was vacating, his heart failed him, and he needed every kind
of encouragement and stimulus, both from God and man. “Be strong” means that he
felt weak; “Be of good courage” means that he was affrighted; “Be not thou
dismayed” means that he seriously considered whether he would not have to give
up the task. He was a worm and no man; how should he deliver Israel? It is when
men are in this condition that God approaches them with the summons to undertake
vast and overwhelming responsibilities. Most of us are too strong for Him to
use us, too full of our own schemes and plans and ways of doing things. He must
empty us, and humble us, and bring us down to the dust of death, so low that we
need every straw of encouragement, every leaf of help; and then He will raise
us up, and make us as the rod of His strength. The world talks of the survival
of the fittest. But God gives power to the faint, and increases might to them
that have no strength; He perfects His strength in weakness, and uses things
that are not to bring to nought things that are. (F. B. Meyer, B. A. )
Courage necessary
It is said of Cromwell that when he had gathered some raw
troops, being much in doubt about their courage, he determined to put it to the
test before employing them in active service. He therefore placed a number of
soldiers in ambush, in a wood through which he had occasion to lead his new
regiment, and when these rushed out suddenly upon the new levies all the timid
among them turned and fled. These Cromwell sent to their homes as unfit for his
service, and so commenced the training of the men who became known to history
as his “ Ironsides.”
A dauntless spirit
Pleopidas hearing that his enemy was coming to give him battle
with double the number that he possessed himself, replied to his informant, “So
much the better for us: we shall beat so many the more.” So should the
Christian view the trials and sorrows of this life, be they never so many.
Through Christ they may all be overcome. (Handbook of Illustration.)
Unto this people shalt
thou divide . . . the land.--
The right people for the land
First of all, the land had to be conquered; and there is no
difficulty in seeing how necessary it was for one who had this task on hand to be
strong and of a good courage, and to meditate on God’s law. Then the land had
to be divided, and the people settled in their new life, and Joshua had to
initiate them, as it were, in that life; he had to bind on their consciences
the conditions on which the land was to be enjoyed, and start them in the
performance of the duties, moral, social, and religious, which the Divine
constitution required. Here lay the most difficult part of his task. They had
not only to be planted physically in groups over the country, but they had to
be married to it morally, otherwise they had no security of tenure, but were
liable to summary eviction. It was no land of rest for idolaters; all depended
on the character they attained: loyally to God was the one condition of a happy
settlement. Thus we see the connection between Joshua’s devotion to the book of
the law and success in the great work of his life--“then thou shalt make thy
way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” No doubt he would have
the appearance of success if he simply cleared out the inhabitants who were so
degraded by sin that God was compelled to sweep them off, and settled His
people in their room. But that, after all, was but a small matter unless
accompanied by something more. It would not secure the people from at last
sharing the fate of the old inhabitants; so far at least that though they
should not he exterminated, yet they would be scattered over the face of the
globe. And so at all times, in dealing with human beings, we can obtain no adequate
and satisfying success unless their hearts are turned to God. Your children may
be great scholars, or successful merchants, or distinguished authors, or
brilliant artists, or even statesmen; what does it come to if they are dead to
God, and have no living fellowship with Jesus Christ? (W. G. Blaikie, D. D.)
Turn not . . . to the right hand or to the left.--
Joshua’s obedience
I. Obedience is
the highest practical courage. The world counts obedience to be a mean-spirited
thing, and speaks of rebellion as freedom. We have heard men say, “I will be my
own master; I shall follow my own will.” To be a free thinker and a free liver
seems to be the worldling’s glory. Take the world’s own martial rule. Who is
accounted to be the boldest and the best soldier but the man who is most
thoroughly obedient to the captain’s command? There is a story told of the old
French wars which has been repeated hundreds of times. A sentinel is set to
keep a certain position, and at nightfall, as he is pacing to and fro, the emperor
himself comes by. He does not know the password. Straightway the soldier stops
him. “You cannot pass,” says he. “But I must pass,” says the emperor. “No,”
replies the man, “if you were the little corporal in grey himself you should
not go by,” by which, of course, he meant the emperor. Thus the autocrat
himself was held in check by order. The vigilant soldier was afterwards
handsomely rewarded, and all the world said that he was a brave fellow. Then
surely it is not a mean and sneaking thing for a man to be obedient to Him who
is the Commander-in-chief of the universe, the King of kings, and Lord of
lords.
II. The exactness
of obedience is the essence of obedience. The world saith, “We must not be too
precise.” As one said to an old Puritan once, “Many people have rent their
consciences in halves; could not you just make a little nick in yours?” “No,”
he said, “I cannot, for my conscience belongs to God.” “We must live, you
know,” said a money-loving shopkeeper, as his excuse for doing what he could not
otherwise defend. “Yes, but we must die,” was the reply, “and therefore we must
do no such thing.” We are probably better dead if we cannot live without doing
wrong. The very essence of obedience lies in exactness. Probably your child, if
sometimes disobedient, would still, as a general rule, do what you told him. It
would be in the little things that thoroughgoing and commendable obedience
would appear. Let the world judge of this for itself. Here is an honest man. Do
people say of him, “He is such an honest man that he would not steal a horse”?
No, that would not prove him to be very honest; but they say, “He would not
even take a pin that did not belong to him.” That is the world’s own
description of honesty, and surely when it comes to obedience to God it ought
to be the same. If I profess to obey the Lord Jesus Christ, the crucial test
will not be in great actions, but in little ones.
III. The path of
obedience is generally a middle path. There is sure to be a right bond, there
is sure to be a left hand, and both are probably wrong. There wilt be extremes
on either side. I believe that this is true in ten thousand things in ordinary
life, and also true in spiritual things in very many respects. With regard, for
instance, to our words; the course of speech generally is, on the one hand to
say too much, or on the other hand to say too little; to be silent when the
wicked are before us, or else to be rash with our lips and betray a good cause
through our rashness in defending it. There is a time to speak, and there is a time to be
silent, and he that judgeth well will mark his opportunities and take the middle course. He will
neither be garrulous with advice that is not required, nor will he be cowardly
and dumb when he ought to bear testimony, for his Master. The same holds good with regard to zeal. We
have some abroad nowadays whoso heads are very hot. They talk as if they would
turn the world upside down, whilst it is their own brains that need first to be
turned into a right condition. Theirs is a fire which burns down the house
instead of burning in the grate and warming the household. But shall we
therefore not be zealous? God forbid! There is a middle course of true,
sensible, prudent zeal--adhering to the truth, and never believing that people
can be converted by lies, however earnestly bawled into their ears; walking
within the bounds of God’s truth, and being persuaded that the best seed to sow
is that which God puts into the basket of His Word, and that sinners are not to
be saved by rash statements nor by extravagant declamation, but that they are
brought to Christ, as they were of old, by the simple telling out of the story
of the Cross affectionately, and by the power of the Holy Ghost sent down from
heaven. Here, again, “turn neither to the right hand nor to the left.”
IV. The path of
right is the path of true prosperity. God does not invariably make the doing of
the right to be the means of pecuniary gain to us. On the contrary, it
frequently happens that for a time men are great losers by their obedience to
Christ. But the Scripture always speaks as to the long run; it sums up the
whole of life--there it promises true riches. If thou wouldst prosper, keep
close to the Word of God, and to thy conscience, and thou shalt have the best
prosperity. The thief, though he takes a short way to get rich, yet takes such
a dangerous way that it does not pay; but he who walks straight along the
narrow road shall find it to be the shortest way to the best kind of
prosperity, both in this world and in that which is to come. If not, if we get
no outward prosperity here, I trust you and I, if we love Christ, and are
filled with His Spirit, can do without it. Well, if we must be poor, it will
soon be over, and in heaven there shall be no poverty. Let us, then, run all
risks for Christ. He is no soldier who cannot die for his country; he is no
Christian who cannot lose life itself for Christ. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Obedience the condition of victory
Yes, the Lord will be with us in our holy war, but He demands of
us that we strictly follow His rules.
1. Our victories will very much depend upon our obeying Him with all
our heart, throwing strength and courage into the actions of our faith. If we
are half-hearted, we cannot expect more than half a blessing.
2. We must obey the Lord with care and thoughtfulness.
3. We must obey with universal readiness. We may not pick and
choose, but must take all the Lord’s commands as they come.
4. In all this we must go on with exactness and constancy. Ours is
to be a straightforward courage, which bends neither to the right nor to the
left. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
This book of the law shall
not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein.--
A good working Bible
Rare botanical specimens are found by diligent searching. It is by
earnest and prayerful study of the Bible theft we discover truths that we may
call our own. We have a brother who has been working in the gold mines of
California for many years. He has a watch-chain that he greatly values because
the gold in it is what he searched and dug out of the mountain himself by hard
labour and much sacrifice. Truths discovered as the result of hard study are
very precious to us. The Bible should be an every-day book to us. A very
handsome and expensive Bible on the parlour stand, covered with a bric-a-brac,
is of little value as compared with a good working Bible. A well-known
Sunday-school worker tells of going into a house in North Wales. As he sat by a
table talking with a little girl, he picked up a Bible, when she instantly
said, “That’s my mother’s every-day Bible, sir; I’ll give you the Sunday Bible
if you want to read.” We all need an every-day Bible, one that can be handled
easily and conveniently--a Bible with every precious promise and every verse
that has been especially helpful to us marked. The Jews were commanded to read
the Scripture all the time, to write it upon the door-posts; to have it as
frontiers between their eyes; to talk of it by the way, and teach it to their
children and children’s children. (Home Messenger.)
God’s revealed wilt the only safe rule for all individual
guidance, and the only legitimate foundation for all national law
I. It is of the
utmost importance that every man should have a sure guide for the direction of
his steps.
1. If you consider the character and condition of man, the truth
before us must claim universal acknowledgment. Man is the creature of God. His
being, powers, and blessings are all derived from his Maker. He is therefore
bound to please Him in all his ways and works. But how is this to be done? By
what measure, so to speak, or after what manner, is this love to be expressed,
and this obedience to be rendered?
2. If you consider man not only as the mere creature of God, but as
a creature endued with an immortal soul, the truth before us will be still more
apparent.
3. If you consider man as a sinner before God, exposed to all the
dreadful consequences of his rebellion, and utterly without ability to help
himself, the truth of this position must still more strikingly appear.
4. If you consider man as exposed to all the vicissitudes of this
life--as subject to sorrow, suffering, and pain, as liable to sickness,
affliction, and all the other evils incident to our present existence--the
truth of this position must claim the approbation of all.
5. If you consider man in reference to death, judgment, and
eternity, no voice can ever be lifted up in opposition to this truth.
II. Where is this
sure guide to be met
with?
1. Is man capable of furnishing himself with such a rule? Evidently
not; and that not merely as the negative applies to him as he now is, but even
supposing him to be what he once was.
2. Consider the greatness and importance of the matters at stake,
and it must be confessed that it would not be safe to trust in any provision
coming from such a human source, even supposing it possible that it could be
provided.
3. A provision of this kind, coming from any human source, would
fall below the circumstances and condition in which we are placed, and
therefore could never meet the exigencies of our case, nor, consequently,
answer the end proposed.
4. The law, or revealed will of God, is the only safe rule for all
individual guidance, as well as the only legitimate foundation for all national
law. No man’s ways or works can be acceptable in the sight of God who throws
aside that rule and walks by the light of his own fire.
III. The benefit and
advantages of following that rule and abiding thereby.
1. We shall have a sure guide for the direction of our steps.
2. We shall find everything plain before us.
3. We shall avoid the grievous mistakes and blunders into which
others have fallen.
4. We shall find abundant provision for every emergency.
5. We shall be safe and prosperous here, and happy and blessed
hereafter.
Conclusion:
1. What an invaluable deposit are the sacred Scriptures as committed
to any nation or people!
2. How widely have we departed from these sacred rules!
3. How needful it is that we should make these Holy Scriptures our
constant study and daily counsellors! (R. Shittler.)
The Christian’s law
“This book of the law,” saith God to Joshua. And both in
our text and in the verse preceding it is set forth as a rule claiming his
observance and obedience, from which he may not swerve. In a peculiar sense we
apply this term to the five books of Moses, and in a yet more limited one to
the Decalogue. And since the New Testament contains so fully and so peculiarly
the revelation of the gospel of the grace of God, and thus abounds with the
language of invitation, promise, and privilege, it may seem as though to us the
oracles of God had no other voice, and that the Bible is not to us the “book of
the law” of God. But while we are jealous of God’s grace, let us beware of a
dangerous error. The Bible does propound to us a law--the very law of the two
tables is unrepealed. Not the Jewish law as our code of worship or practice,
not any law as the means of our justification, but the laws of Christian
holiness and virtue. Our Bibles must be our lamps, our light, of our
counsellors- our oracles of duty no less than of comfort. And while the Cross
furnishes the motive, while the Spirit is the Teacher, the Author and Giver
alike of will and power, the precepts and prohibitions of the Bible must be our
guide, as the by-paths of sin and ruin present themselves on the right hand and
on the left. We are not to go to this book of God for our creed or system of
theology alone, but for our code of morals and practice. For the Bible is
neither all doctrine, nor all promise; it has its rules, its precepts, its prohibitions.
Its precepts based upon its doctrine, yoked graciously with its promises, but
precepts still. You are placed from day to day amid duties and temptations.
Your God, your fellow-men have many claims upon you; you stand in many and
varied relationships. You are a pilgrim in a road bestrewed with pitfalls and
beset with by-paths of sin and error; a soldier amid many and subtle and mighty
foes, with a hard field to fight; a voyager over a stormy sea, amid shoals and
rocks and quicksands. Your Bible is your guide, O pilgrim--your sword, O
soldier--your chart, O seaman l What else shall preserve you even in sound
doctrine in these dangerous days but that ye be “mighty in the Scriptures,” and
so reject another gospel, though its preachers wore the garb and semblance of
angels, yea, though (were it possible) they were angels of light? Or what, in
reference to your practice, shall secure you against the workings of sin’s
deceitfulness--against the deep devices of your arch-enemy, the
tempter--against the false and unscriptural principles of the world around, the
spurious morality which passes current among men--what but “this book of the
law”?--this book which in its revelations is pure, unerring, truth--which in
its precepts is all pure in holiness, all perfect in virtue. But draw near to
it ever as remembering that you are listening to the voice of God. Bow down to
its revelations therefore as unerring, to its requirements as authoritative and
supreme. (J. C. Miller, D. D.)
Meditation and obedience
Many devout Christians tell us that they find it profitable to
take even a single verse and make it peculiarly the subject of their thoughts
throughout each day--to make it the little vein in the mine which they more
particularly work out. There can be no doubt that many of the vain and sinful
thoughts which pass through our minds and grieve the devout Christian might
thus be shut out were the thoughts and memory preoccupied with Divine truth.
And if any particularly mourn that their thoughts, when left to themselves, are
so discursive and unprofitable, that they know so little of religious
meditation, it may be well for them thus to choose one verse of their daily
portion and make it, so to say, the text of their day’s thoughts. Let them
endeavour to fix its meaning, let them follow out the train of thought to which
it leads, let them pray over it in a special manner. And all this with a view
more particularly to self-application. But our duty ends not here. The seaman
studies his chart and has his compasses on board, not for mere scientific
experiments, but that he may voyage in safety to the haven whither he would go,
amid the rocks and shoals and quicksands which beset his track. We may not then
imagine that all is done when our verses or chapters, our portion, however
long, is again punctually gone through. There is a danger of this, as there is
a danger of a mere formal lip-service in our prayers. For, as to say prayers is
not necessarily to pray, so there is a reading of the Word of God with the mind
and the lip only. Our hearts must be the readers, as our hearts must be the
petitioners. And then throughout the day the duties here enjoined must be
practised, the sins denounced forsaken and shunned, the tempers here set forth
as unchristian struggled with, the promises here given lived on, the heaven
here proffered sought, the Saviour and the God of whom we read glorified. (J.
C. Miller, D. D.)
Meditation
When the impious King Antiochus entered the temple of Jerusalem to
lay it waste, his first act was to remove the golden altar and the candlestick,
which was also of gold. The devil acts in the same manner when he intends to
deprive of spiritual good that soul which is the temple of the living God: he
takes from it the altar that is, fervour of mind; he removes from it the
candlestick that is, the light which makes known the eternal maxims.
Then thou shalt make thy
way prosperous.--
The prosperous way
God’s blessing is ever upon His people, and lie will ever cause
that the way of His commandments shall be found the way of happiness and good.
Therefore it is true that His people’s way is a prosperous way, that they “have
good success.” The Old Testament promise is--“whatsoever thou doest it shall
prosper” the New, “we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God.” Is not such a man prospering? All may be disappointment and failure
to flesh and blood, and in the estimate of sense. He may not know or see or
feel his prosperity at this moment, and while “all things” are working
together. But when they have worked and their end is seen, that end shall be
found an end of blessing and prosperity. For in the emphatic language of the
Psalm, “The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous.” His path with them may be
dark, and hard, and thorny, but it is right; for their path towards Him is
obedience and holiness. In what but blessedness can that path issue “which the
Lord approveth”? Would ye know, then, whether God’s blessing is at this moment
upon your path? Is it a path in which you are guided by His Word, in which you
are taking it as a lamp to your feet, as your counsellor and your delight? If
so--let it be hard--it is blessed l Let it be tedious--your Father’s face of
love is shining full upon it. Or if at this moment some cloud is casting over
it its gloomy shadow, that cloud will soon be gone, having burst in mercy upon
your head. (J. C. Miller, D. D.)
The Lord thy God is with
thee whithersoever thou goest.--
God with the good
The Lord, whose command is universal; God, whose power is
invincible; the Lord thy God, whose mercies are incomprehensible, is with thee
whithersoever thou goest. If the Lord thy God be with thee, His wisdom is with
thee to direct thee, His power to protect thee, His strength to support thee,
His goodness to maintain thee, His bounty to reward thee, His word to encourage
thee, and if thou die under His banner, His angels presently to carry thee into
heaven. Where the Israelites lamentably deplore their ill success in war, they
attribute it to God’s absence. “Thou goest not forth,” say they, “with our
armies.” The Lacedaemonians, being overtaken by the Persian horse and
overwhelmed with great flights of arrows, did notwithstanding quietly sit
still, without making any resistance at all, or defence, till the sacrifices
for victory were happily ended; yea, though many were sore hurt, and some slain
outright before any good sign appeared in the entrails; but as soon as their
general, Pausanias, had found good tokens of victory, and persuaded his
soldiers of the Divine approbation of their war, they arose, and with excellent
courage first received the charge of the barbarians, and after charged them
afresh, and slew Mardonius, the Persian general, and many thousands of the
rest, and got the day. If the conjectural hope of the aid and assistance of a
sainted deity put such courage and resolution into the Lacedaemonians, shall
not faith in the true God and confidence in His help breed better blood, and
infuse nobler spirits into the hearts of God’s warriors and Christian soldiers?
God can save His, and overcome the enemy as well with small forces as with
great, but all the forces in the world without Him have no force at all. (D.
Featley, D. D.)
An inspiring presence
When Napoleon first started to fight our country and Austria, do
you know what our soldiers called him? It was “Wee One-hundred-thousand-men.”
That was a fine name. It was a grand testimony to the power of the little
Napoleon in the midst of his army. They asked one another, “Is ‘Wee
One-hundred-thousand-men’ in the army to-day?” He was worth that number of men.
Please tell me at what figure you rate the Son of God. Is He in the battle
to-day? (J. Robertson.)
The presence of the Master
Bacon has well said, that a dog is brave and generous when he
believes himself backed by his master, but timid and crouching, especially in a
strange place, when he is alone and his master away; and a human master, says
the philosopher, is as a god to the dog.
Within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan.
Three days’ pause
I. What this pause
meant. “Three days” is a recognised period in Scripture for death and
resurrection. But there was another and deeper reason for the delay, which
closely touches one of the greatest principles of the inner life. When Israel
reached its banks, the Jordan was in flood, and overflowing the low-lying lands
on either side of its bed. Across the river stood Jericho, embosomed in palms
and tamarisks, in a very paradise of exquisite vegetation, its aromatic shrubs
and gardens scenting the air. But as the people beheld it, all their cherished
hopes of taking it by their own energy or courage must have been utterly
dissipated. What could they do in face of that broad expanse of rushing,
foaming, turbulent waters? Multitudes have come to the brink of that river, and
have been left there, waiting on its banks, that they might consider the
meaning of those impassable waters, and carry away the sentence of death in
themselves. Abraham waited there for more than twenty years face to face with
the apparent impossibility of ever having a son. David waited there for almost
as long, and it must have seemed that the kingdom foretold to him as a youth
lay on the other side of insurmountable difficulties. Many a saint since then
has been brought down to these same banks, and has stood to witness these
flowing streams. What though the promise of God has offered all manner of
blessedness and delight! That river! That flooded, fordless, bridgeless, boatless
river! Are you there now? Do not hasten from it. Stand still and consider it
until the energy and impetuosity of your self-life lies down. You can never
reach the blessed life by resolutions, or pledges, or forms of covenant; your
good self is as powerless now as your bad self was formerly; you must learn
that your strength is to sit still, and that the rich blessings of God stored
in Christ for you are an absolute gift to be received by the outstretched hand
of faith.
II. How this pause
was spent. During this space of three days events transpired which are both
interesting and typical. Amongst other things Jericho was entered by the two
spies.
1. Jericho may fitly stand for the world of men over which judgment
is impending, but which goes on its way unheeding. Rahab, the poor outcast of
Jericho, who had such strange faith in God, entered in with the people to
possess the land that flowed with milk and honey. She is thus the type of
Gentile-sinners who are permitted to share in the unsearchable riches of
Christ, to sit with Him in the heavenlies, to form part of that new race which
is gathering around the true Joshua, the Lord from heaven.
2. During this brief pause Joshua also had an opportunity of
ascertaining the feelings of the two tribes and a half. Are not these the type
of Christians to whom the land of promise is as freely open as to others, and
who make an incursion into it with no thought of remaining? They are willing to
meet and measure their strength with the seven nations of Canaan, but they are
not prepared to abandon the strong facinations of the world, and to settle down
to a life hidden with Christ in God. The end of such is but too clearly
suggested by the fate of those Eastern tribes. They had their much grass, but
they became gradually cut off from the corporate life of Israel. They gave few
great names to the roll of saints and heroes emblazoned on Israel’s story. They
fell first beneath the invasions of Assyria, and were swept into captivity,
from which they never returned.
III. How the pause
ended. On the third day the hosts seem to have come nearer the river’s brink,
and their tents were
pitched for the night within close proximity to the hurrying waters. It was
then that Joshua said unto the people, “Sanctify yourselves,” &c. From
which it would seem that the wonder-working power of God is dependent upon the
sanctification of His people. “Why art Thou as a mighty man that cannot save?”
“He could do no mighty works there, because of their unbelief.” We all want to
see wonders wrought by God--in our own characters, that the fir-tree may
replace the thorn
and the myrtle the briar; in our homes, that the desert places may blossom with
roses; in our Churches, that they may arise and put on their beautiful
garments. Oh! for another Pentecost! Oh! to see converts fly as doves to their
windows! And why is it that we strain our eyes for them in vain? Is it not
because we have not sanctified ourselves? Sanctification means the cleansing of
the soul, and the putting on of the white robes of purity and humility. We are
not clean enough for God to use us. We are not humble enough to bear a great
success. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Crossing the Jordan
Many good people daily pray against sudden death, and there
are legitimate reasons for so doing; but to a child of God it is of small
consequence, for death will never find him unprepared if he is living in
communion with God. We will enter into the joy of our Lord, and be for ever
with Him. When God’s children have their candle lighted for them, and they know
that it is time to go upstairs, they feel glad to end their pilgrimage, and
rest in Jesus. We are all of us much nearer home than we think. It will be
greatly wise to talk with our last hours, and to anticipate that time when the
message shall come, “Within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan.”
I. Observe the
tenor of this notice. Notice that there are three leading words in it:
“prepare,” “pass over,” “possess.” The first word that came to them was,
“Prepare.” Be in journeying order. The soldier carries his rations with
him when he has to make a quick march: “Prepare you victuals.” Children of God,
be ready to go from this world. But inasmuch as he said, “Prepare you victuals”
did he not mean “Begin to feed on food of that sort upon which you are henceforth
to live”? The manna would cease in three days, and never fall again. After they
crossed the Jordan, they would feed on the corn of the land. Feed on Christ,
feed on spiritual food, feed on the pure truth of God’s Word, and feed your
souls on nothing else. Know the taste of what you eat, and let it be as clear
and definite as that of butter and honey, that so you may steadily refuse the
evil and choose the good. Joshua meant--Stand ready, for the time is getting
very short. There is not long to wait. Soon you will have traversed the stream,
and landed on the hither shore. How would you feel if you knew that within
three days you must die? The exhortation given in verse 13 is one which may be
useful also to us: “Remember the word.” It is a grand help for going over
Jordan if we will remember the word of the Lord. Our faith enables us
both to live and to die on the promise of God. But then he said also, “Sanctify
yourselves” (Joshua 3:5). If we knew we were to die in
three days, should we not wish to put our hearts, our thoughts, our families,
into a better state? Since we may die suddenly, let us purify ourselves of all
filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit. The next word was, “Pass over this
Jordan.” They were not called to linger on the brink, nor to sit with their
feet in the stream, but to cross over it. Israel had been forty years in the
wilderness, and surely that was long enough. He who hath served his God with
all his heart will not wish to linger a moment after his life-work is done. You
are not called to
linger on the bed of sickness for ages, but to pass over to your rest. And
notice, the call was not to go down into the Jordan to stop there. Blessed be
God, we are not going down into the grave to be lost there; but we make use of
it as an opened
door to paradise. The third word was “possess.” They were to pass the river to
possess the land which God had given them. We possess nothing here. Those goods
which we think we possess melt away like an icicle from a hot hand. But we have
on the other side of Jordan treasures worth owning. By a covenant of salt, God
has given us in Christ Jesus everlasting rest, triumph, happiness, glory.
II. Observe the
sequel of this notice, or what followed upon the summons. The first thing that
happened to Israel was this, a singular faith was bestowed. I can hardly believe that
the people under Joshua were the children of those unbelieving Jews whose
caresses fell in the wilderness; for throughout the early chapters of Joshua it
is recorded that they believed Joshua, whatever he said to them. He had strange
and strong things to utter, but they did not doubt or demur. Now, when the children of
God come to die, those of them who have been poor, trembling things before,
receive new courage and unwonted strength, and even minister comfort to those
who are stronger than themselves. It is brave to see how Mr. Ready-to-halt puts
his crutches away when he is going over Jordan. Mr. Feeble-mind bids them bury
his feeble mind in a dunghill, for it would be of no use to anybody. The Lord
will give us more grace, and we shall wonder at ourselves that we could have
been aforetime so distrustful. “At eventide it shall be light.” Next, a special
assurance was given: “To-morrow the Lord will do wonders among you” (Joshua 3:5). The Lord is always working
marvels; but when we come to cross the Jordan we shall see His wonders in the
deep. Next, note that the people had with them a conquering leader. Joshua was
at their head, to encourage and direct them. When you and I shall pass over
Jordan we shall have Jesus with us. He says, “Be of good cheer. Because I live,
ye shall live also.” But what next? The Israelites had a clear guidance
afforded them (Joshua 3:4). You have been through many
experiences, but to die will be a new one. Once for all, you must cross this
Jordan, therefore the Divine presence shall go before you, and show you the
way. Oh, yes, you shall have Divine direction when the darkness gathers about
you! With Israel a forerunner led the way. So our great High Priest has tasted
death for every man. Nor did the forerunner quit the scene, for the Divine
presence remained. The priests went on till they came to the river-bed, and
descended the hollow, going on to the very centre of it. There they stopped
till all the host had passed over. The Lord Jesus will go before you as your
great High Priest, your propitiation and your covenant; and He will abide with
you in the last solemn article until you are safe landed on the shore of the
land of promise. In consequence of the priests going down into the river the
stream was dried up. Wonderful sight it must have been to behold the waters
roll back, and stand in a congealed heap. Thus there was a broad passage-way
for the multitudes of Israel to go marching through, and to effect the crossing
rapidly. Suppose, when you come to die, the Jordan should turn out to be no
river at all. What if you should go over dry-shod? Why should it not be so?
Death is a pints prick to many. Death hath lost its terrors. “The sting of
death is sin,” and that is forgiven. “The strength of sin is the law,” and that
is fulfilled. The black waters have failed; we pass over Jordan dry-shod. Then
notice, the people were very quick in crossing. Death is short work. After all,
what is the act of death? “What!” cries one, “is there not a terrible amount of
pain connected with death?” I answer, “No.” It is life that has the pain; death
is the finis of all pain. You blame death for a disease of which he is the
cure. You imagine a thing called death which does not really exist. In the
twinkling of an eye we shall be up and away! Therefore, because you will haste
to pass over, you need not be alarmed at so short a trial, which will actually
turn out to be no trial at all. We read in (Joshua 4:9) that the Israelites in
traversing the Jordan left a memorial behind. You also will bear your testimony
in departing: you will set up your memorial for your children after you, and
they shall say, “Our father died in sure and certain hope of being with Jesus.”
Even if your death-bed should not be so bright as some, even its clouds may not
be without their effect. A holy man had prayed much for his boys and girls, but
never saw them converted, and this, with the troubles which grow out of their
waywardness, made his last hours to be sadly clouded. But mark how the Lord
wrought! They buried their father, and when they were met together, the eldest
son turned to his brothers and remarked, “If our father, who was so good a man,
was so troubled in death, what will become of us when we die?” This most
reasonable remark was the means of the conversion of the brothers. I would like
to die in the dark if it would bring all my people to the Saviour. Would not
you? One thing more: they also raised a memorial on the other shore. They piled
twelve stones upon each other in Canaan. You and I, when we get to heaven,
shall take our memorials with us, and pile them up. We will make known to
angels and principalities and powers the manifold wisdom and goodness of God to
us in life and death. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Jordan at hand
I. The first
feeling excited by the announcement must have been that of joy and triumph. It
was not alone on the contrast between its fountains and depths springing out of
valleys and hills, and the arid desolation of the great howling wilderness,
that the thoughts of the Hebrew rested, but on the contrast of its repose. The
sorest trials of his life had not probably been the hunger and the thirst, the
laborious journey and the tumult of the battle, but the ceaseless motion--the movement ever on
and on. Rest, rest! rest anywhere, but, above all, in the land that flowed with
milk and honey, must have been the innermost desire of his heart. Is not all
this applicable to ourselves? It is not the great sorrows of our experience
that constitute, after all, the weariness of life; but it is its change, its
sense of uncertainty, the consciousness that we keep nothing, call nothing
absolutely our own.
II. There must have
blended with it a great trial of faith. The chosen land was indeed close at
hand. It seemed as if they could almost touch the shore. Just beyond gleamed in
the sunshine the towers of Jericho, and blue in the distance were the hills of
Judaea. But, close as they seemed, Jordan rolled between, and they could not
but ask how they were to cross it. What, then, of that other Jordan, which we
all must cross? that death we must all die some time or other, and through
which alone we can enter into our Canaan? Let us make sure that what awaits us
beyond on the other shore is heaven, and not the darkness. With the act of
dying we have nothing whatever to do. It is in God’s hands, not ours, and there
we must leave it. Has not the ark gone before?
III. An act of
preparation needed: “Prepare you victuals.” There is nothing actually
corresponding to this in the experience of the Christian when he is called to
cross into the better land. Special preparation for heaven, the Christian needs
none. If he be in Christ, that is enough; he is safe. If he be a believer, he can
have no less; and though he were the highest of saints that ever caught the
light of the face of God, he could have no more than to be “found in Him, not
having his own righteousness,” &c. For myself I can conceive nothing more
blessed than for a saint to pass at once from the midst of his work for his
Master into the enjoyment of his Master’s presence. Yet I admit that the near
sight of so great a change could not but very solemnly affect us, were the
warning given to ourselves. There would be an intense revival of faith and
hope, and in that close sight of heaven a flinging away of all earthly and
temporal ties. (E. Garbett, M. A.)
“Prepare you victuals”
Sometimes we have heard words like these fall from Christian
workers: “I have faith to believe that God will provide the means necessary to
carry on this work,” and straightway they assume liabilities and enter into
engagements, and incur debts, in violation of the plain command, “Owe no man
anything”; yea, they even sometimes accuse their brethren of lack of faith
because they cannot do God’s work in this way. This is not good. To obey is
better than to profess great faith; and to hearken than sentimental unthinking
zeal. What would we have thought of Joshua if after he had received the Divine
order to march forward he had said, “I have faith to believe that God will
provide the food necessary for victualling the army all through the campaign;
our commissariat is absolutely safe, for it is in Divine hands. God has
promised to be with me as He was with Moses, I have no need to think of these
things. All I have got to do is to hasten forward.” Nay, nay! Joshua manifested
his faith in a much more Divine fashion. “Prepare you victuals,” he said; do
not expect that miraculous supply which has been granted for forty years, now
that you are in a position to do without it. You are no longer helpless
children, but grown men able to provide for yourselves. The battle is the
Lord’s, and He will not fail us nor forsake us, but we must use all reasonable
foresight in carrying on His work. We dare do nothing, we dare omit nothing,
out of harmony with His ways. (A. B. Mackay.)
Self-help necessary
Joshua reminds us of the famous order attributed to Cromwell,
“Trust in God, and keep your powder dry.” His piety was very unlike that of a
certain Duke of Parma, of whom it is written that, in a great crisis, “while he
had been praying, and nothing more, the English had been praying, and something
more.” He acted in the spirit of the proverb, “God helps those who help
themselves.” (T. W. M. Lund, M. A.)
“Ye shall pass over”
“Oh,” but they might have said, “we cannot pass over Jordan,
because there is Jericho right in front of us, and of course the inhabitants
will call in the Jebusites, who are not far off, at Jerusalem, and these will
fetch in the Hivites, and the Amorites, and all the other nations; and these
will hotly dispute the passage of the river, and it will be out of the question
to force our way through that torrent, and fight up the other bank against such
foes.” Such a fear would be most natural. When Caesar tried to land in England,
what did the Britons do? They rushed into the water off Dover to meet the
Romans, and they fought with them in the surf of the sea. It was natural that
brave men should fight the invaders in the water, and not suffer them to tread
their soil. Do you suppose that the Canaanites were less brave than the ancient
Britons? Had there not been a spell upon them, they would have pressed back
Israel in the river itself, and would not have allowed them to enter the land.
Yet Israel passed over Jordan at the appointed time. God had said, “Ye shall go
over,” and they did go over; and no Canaanite, Hivite, or Jebusite dared to
molest them. So the poor child of God sighs, “Alas! when I come to die, Satan will
meet me, temptations and doubts and fears will rush upon me.” We read in chap.
3:16, “And the people passed over right against Jericho.” Fear not, O,
trembling heart. God can so deal with evil spirits, and with the doubts of your
own spirit, that they shall be still as a stone till you have passed over. No
demon shall dare to peep or mutter. No doubt or fear shall venture near. We
read, “All the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were
passed clean over Jordan.” Not an arrow or a stone came from over the walls of
Jericho. Glory be to the name of the Lord, He made the hearts of Israel’s
enemies to melt, so that no more courage remained in them. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Ye shall pass before your brethren armed.
Joshua’s demand for the services of the trans-Jordanic tribes
In making this demand he declares their duty plainly, supports it
with reasons, and enforces it with firmness. The demand he made was
authoritative. It was founded on a past transaction to which they had agreed.
He showed that this was nothing more than the carrying out of an arrangement
previously made. From this it would not be lawful to deviate, for the
commandment of Moses in regard to this was the word of the Lord. The demand was
also reasonable. The raw lads and the worn-out soldiers, as well as the
inferior men, may stay at home to do garrison duty, the veterans must march
with him. Surely this is sensible. It is always wise to put the best men to the
most difficult work. In fulfilling this commission of the true Joshua, has the
Church always acted with equal wisdom and fidelity? It did so in the purest and
palmiest days of missionary effort, when, filled with the spirit of wisdom and
love and power, it broke forth on the right and left and speedily overran the
known world, Now it seems as if all the mighty men of valour should stay at
home to nurse the feeble spark of the Church’s vitality, while the striplings
go to the wars. Yea, are there not some who, instead of evangelising among the
heathen, expend all their energy in proselytising among Christians? The demand
made by Joshua on the pastoral tribes was also equitable. “You have rest,” he
might have said; “your brethren have not. You got rest through their help,
therefore you are bound to help them to the same blessing. The command of Moses
in regard to this was acquiesced in by you, therefore truth and honour require
its faithful carrying out.” Moreover, what an unseemly picture it would have
presented, to have seen part of the nation fighting hard, while their brethren
sat still and looked on in ignoble ease. And how shortsighted would this policy
of idleness have been. Only by the speedy and thorough conquest of all the land
could the heritage of any tribe be kept in pleasant and unquestioned
possession. To march with Joshua was the wisest, as well as the most seemly
thing these tribes could do. Surely the same arguments could be urged with
equal force as incentives to the grand work of world-wide Christian testimony.
(A. B. Mackay.)
All that thou commandest
us we will do.
Brave responses
The response of the people was as noble in its way as that of
their leader. There is a holy rivalry between Israel and Joshua. They stir each
other up to the great work that has to be done. The outstanding feature in the
response of the people is its enthusiasm. It is plain from their response that
they are heart and soul in the work before them, that they are only waiting for
their leader’s command to march forth a band of heroes. To say that their reply
to Joshua was hearty would be to do them injustice; it was enthusiastic. Every
soul in the camp was stirred to its utmost depth. This is plain from the
readiness with which they replied. They did not hang back, waiting for each
other to speak out. Much less did they hunt up excuses why they should not
march. They did not modify or minimise their responsibilities. They were as
eager to follow Joshua as Joshua was to follow Jehovah. This enthusiasm was
also manifested by their cheerfulness. These men had not only promised to put
their hands to this work, but also made if plain that they felt it their
highest privilege to be able to do so. Oh! for such holy enthusiasm in the work
of the Lord in these days! The best of us are but half-hearted at the best, and
some, alas! seem utterly unable to get up the least spark of enthusiasm for
holy things. If we profess to be Christians, if we profess to do God’s work, if
we profess to respond to the call of the true Joshua, let us do it, not like
galley-slaves, but like God’s freemen; let us do it as those who think His
service our highest honour. Joshua’s followers were also unreserved in
acknowledging their allegiance. They kept nothing back and made no reservation.
They asked no questions and imposed no conditions. Is obedience, prompt and
unquestioning, the first duty of a soldier? See how splendidly it was possessed
by these Israelites. They declare that it is not for them to make reply, not for
them to reason why, but simply, constantly, to do all that was commanded them.
And if such glorious allegiance was due to Joshua, much more it is due to our
great Captain of salvation, Jesus Christ. Whatsoever He commands in His Word we
should do. Wheresoever He sends us in His providence we should go. The response
of the people was also humble, sincere, earnest, and hopeful. A slight
transformation in the opening words of verse 17 makes their meaning more clear.
It should read thus: “According to all in which we hearkened to Moses so will
we hearken unto thee.” They do not here brag of their obedience to Moses.
Though better than their fathers, they had nothing to boast of, and conscious
of their own weakness they merely said, “We will try to make our best obedience
to Moses the model of our obedience to you.” And there is good hope that they
will succeed in carrying out this promise, for it is plain that they make it in
a prayerful spirit, inasmuch as they follow it up by saying, “Only the Lord be
with thee as He was with Moses.” This is no impertinent limitation, qualifying
their full allegiance as already given; but an earnest prayer that Joshua might
constantly enjoy the Divine guidance, protection, and blessing vouchsafed to
Moses. Then they finish their response by words vehement and uncompromising:
“Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment, and will not hearken
unto thy words in all that thou commandest him, let him be put to death.” What
more could a leader desire than such a spontaneous manifestation of fidelity?
How must this declaration have strengthened Joshua’s heart, showing so clearly
as it did that his appointment to the leadership by Jehovah was so heartily
ratified by all the people. (A. B Mackay.)
The moral advantages of good organisation
1. Society must have leadership, and leadership must be a question of
competence. There are three things about the true leader which are most
notable--
2. Organisation is as much required in the Church as in the army.
The mature thinker, the new-born Christian, the untried youth, the
undisciplined mind, and the cultivated intellect, cannot be equal, and ought
not to have equal authority in the Church.
I. Such
organisation would facilitate the development of individual talent. In the
absence of wise organisation, the modest man will be ignored or crushed. He
will have no power and no disposition to cope with the self-asserting and
blustering men who worship their own infallibility. For the moment insolence
will vanquish genius, simply because genius disdains the rude weapons which
insolence adopts, and cares not to fight where even victory would be disgrace.
II. Such
organisation would consolidate the Christian society assembling in one place.
The army is a compact confederacy. Its consolidation is its strength. Break up
its wisely arranged gradations, and its power is paralysed. The same principle
has its bearing upon the Church.
III. Such
organisation would present the most formidable front to the enemy. Every man in
his place, every man moving at the same word of command, every man living for
the common good--let that programme be carried out, and no power can withstand
the united influence of Christ’s believers. Disorder is weakness; disorder is
waste!
IV. Such organi
sation would promote a most healthful spiritual discipline, The organisation
which God appoints is calculated to train men to habits of self-dominion. The
young man is held in check; the passionate man is subdued; the lethargic man is
quickened; and each nature has the advantage of association with natures of a
different type. The organisation thus commended is not merely mechanical; it is
the order which comes of a living love, which is willing to do the most good in
the least time. (J. -Parker, D. D.)
Fidelity to engagements
There was no going back from their word, even though they might
have found a loophole of escape. They might have said that as the conquest of
Sihon and Og had been accomplished so easily, so the conquest of the western
tribes would be equally simple. Or they might have said that the nine tribes
and a half could furnish quite a large enough army to dispossess the
Canaanites. Or they might have discovered that their wives and children were
exposed to dangers they had not apprehended, and that it would be necessary for
the entire body of the men to remain and protect them. But they fell back on no
such afterthought. They kept their word at no small cost of toil and danger,
and furnished thereby a perpetual lesson for those who, having made a promise
under pressure, are tempted to retire from it when the pressure is removed.
Fidelity to engagements is a noble quality, just as laxity in regard to them is
a miserable sin. Even pagan Rome could boast of a Regulus who kept his oath by
returning to Carthage, though it was to encounter a miserable death. In Psalms 15:1-5. it is a feature in the
portrait of the man who is to abide in God’s tabernacle and dwell in His holy
hill, that he “sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.” (W. G. Blaikie,
D. D.)
The Lord thy God be with
thee.
Prayers for men in public offices
Rulers who answer the end of their office as guardians of civil
and religious liberty are pillars of a land. They uphold and support it, and
keep it from tottering and sinking. We should pray for them--
1. That they may be endued with every grace and virtue which can
animate to the faithful and diligent execution of the duties of their office.
If piety, true patriotism, and zeal for the interests of religion are at
present less conspicuous in many who hold civil or military offices than they
have been in some former periods, there is the greater need to beseech Him,
with whom is the residue of the Spirit, to pour out abundantly.
2. We should pray that all in offices, civil or military, may be
endued with the gifts and talents necessary for the honourable discharge of
their several offices. Capacity and genius, as well as good dispositions, are
requisite for serving the public. It is from Divine influence that rulers
diligently search what conduct is just and wise; hearken to salutary advice,
from whatever quarter it comes; and have clear understandings to discern, and
sound judgments to choose the right path, even in situations the most intricate
and perplexed.
3. We should pray that, in consequence of good dispositions and
eminent abilities, rulers may actually adopt the measures which best tend to
promote the public good. It is not enough that a ruler avoids, in his own
practice, whatever may embolden wickedness, and recommends, by an exemplary conduct,
that righteousness which exalteth a nation. He must vigorously enforce and
execute the laws already established for restraining wrong and wicked lewdness,
and help forward the enacting of such new laws as may be needful for
restraining them more effectually.
4. We should pray God to prosper the endeavours of all in civil and
military offices for promoting the public good. (John Erskine, D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》